When Distant Hearts Beat As One
by KamirineGoddess
Summary: UPDATE! After too many drinks and a night of passion, Sora ends up getting a very unique problem. But what happens when Riku doesn’t want to be in just the baby’s life and Sora’s already got a girlfriend who isn’t willing to let go? SLASH, RikuSora, MPreg
1. Prologue: A Night Full of Mistakes

_**Author's Notes:**_  
_This story is in response to _**RxS Lover's **_challenge from Adultfanfiction. I__ really hope you all enjoy the story and don't be afraid to tell me what's on your mind and what you think of it. Reviews would be nice but just having someone read it is always a treasure. ::Sniffles::_

**Disclaimer:**_  
__As much as I'd love to own the characters of Kingdom Hearts, I don't. So this story won't make a profit. But if I did, then than KH would definitely not be for children. And Sora and Riku would have had an entirely different reaction when meeting up in KH2..._

**!!WARNING!****  
**This story is rated Mature for the following:

**-Slash/Yoai/ M/M Relationships  
**_If you don't like your fan fictions with some good ole fashion hawt guy on guy action: RUN.  
_  
-**Strong (and hopefully delicious) Sexual Content**  
_Both M/F and M/M action so if you don't like your story with sex in it…don't read.  
_  
-**Male Pregnancy  
**_Okay, so this is a first for me actually but in compliance with the challenge, I must include this. But if you don't like Mpreg., then please don't read._

**-Violence**  
_I can't have a story without a little violence, sorry. _

**-Anything else I can come up with**  
_And I can come up with some things…_

**Pairings  
**_Riku x Sora, Kairi x Sora, Axel x Roxas, Hayner x Roxas (Past), Cloud x Leon, Cloud x Sephiroth (past)_

**Summery:**  
_After too many drinks and a night of passion, Sora ends up getting a very unique problem. But what happens when Riku doesn't want to be in just the baby's life--and Sora's already got a girlfriend who isn't willing to let go? _

_And just to warn you, this chapter has M/M in it. So if you don't like reading that, please skip the final part. And without further to do, please read and enjoy!_

_**When Distant Hearts Beat as One  
**_**Prologue: **_A Night Full of Mistakes_

"Sora?"

A bright yet lopsided smile greeted her as he tried to wave, stumbling back and falling right on his ass, laughing at himself loudly.

"Sora!" a beautiful red head snapped, her bright ocean blue eyes meeting his hazy sapphire ones. She watched him slur a incoherent sentence her way before hiccupping and fall sway from side to side, still giggling at nothing in particular.

Kairi's eyes narrowed and a flicker of righteous fury flickered in them for a moment before she spoke in a calm, dead pan tone. "Sora. Have you been drinking?!"

"Uuummm," he began, looking up at the starry filled sky, leaning his head back far enough to make him topple backward. Kairi yelped as she dived forward in an overdramatic fashion, just catching Sora's head before it hit the sand and placing it in her lap. He blinked as if trying to clear his mind before looking up at Kairi and blushing greatly before giggling again.

"Maaaybe?"

"Oh Sora," she sighed before frowning and placing her hands on her hips. "I can't believe you!"

"Damn woman, ease up!" a voice joked before slapping Kairi hard on the back, making her stumble forward a little and causing Sora to slip off her lap and face down into the sand--though he made no quick moves to roll over. Or move at all.

Just…giggle.

She got to her feet, brushing the sand off the front of her pink dress before turning around to glare at the all to familiar red head. Tall and lanky, with arguably amazing bright emerald eyes and fiery red hair that was as wild as his attitude.

Axel smirked at her mischievously, his eyes narrowing as he pushed a strand of hair over his shoulder with his right hand swirling a drink around in a little glass in the other. She paused to stare at the small tear drop tattoos underneath each of them--she never understood why he thought that looked good.

Made her think of a clown. A clown with a nasty attitude.

"I will not 'ease up'," she snapped angrily at him, poking him in the chest. "Sora is not a drinker--he can _barely_ handle eggnog! And you knew that Axel! How could you let--"

"Sora is a _big boy _Kairi and the sooner you realize that, the better," Axel retorted, already bored with the situation. "No one forced him into drinking so back off."

"Oh I'm so sure," Kairi snapped venomously, already glaring at Axel with a accusing glare but the latter simply glared back at her in a challenging manner . "I'm so sure you and your sneaky little friends didn't influence him into drinking at all! Now how is he suppose to get home? He was the designated driver for the group!"

"You take him home, you're so worried about him," Axel hissed aggravated.

"I can't! I've already had a few and I never drive after I drunk anything!" she snapped and chose to ignore Axel's cough that oddly sounded like 'Wuss'. "I've got to get home now and he shouldn't be out too late either! And now he's completely drunk! That's exactly why I didn't want him going anywhere near Riku--"

Axel picked this moment to completely tune her out, finding more interest now in his nails than whatever she had to say about one of his better friends.

Every time she unfortunately came around, Riku and how much he was something always came up--even though the entire gang agreed it was her fault the pair didn't get along as it were.

Honestly, if it hadn't been Roxas finding very interesting ways to persuade him into Sora's request to bring her along, he never would have invited the little upstart.

She was a stick in the mud, along with a few other things that Axel could bring up but didn't for the sake of continuing to have an otherwise, good night. Though he couldn't understand how such a boy like Sora would prefer a girl like Kairi.

He could honestly say that there was a time when Kairi was actually a very sweet girl and a lot of fun to be around. But then something just…changed. And as to him, it was like she used that false sweetness and self righteous attitude to hide her true nature, which he knew from experience could be very vicious indeed...

". . .and _are you listening to me Axel_!" the younger girl cried, slapping him in the arm to get his attention.

"Damn, you're still bothering me? What!" he snapped back, eyes flaring a little at her having the nerve to touch him, let alone hit him.

"I said, have Riku take him home," she restated, looking behind him at the platinum blond, whom at the moment, was trying to limbo with Wakka and Roxas and a few others, making quite a show of himself since he too, looked to be quite wasted.

"Since he saw fit to let Sora drink himself into…_that_," she paused to point and look over at Sora who was trying in vain to do a roll, only to fall on his side and laugh. "Then he, for once, can take responsibility and see to it that he gets home safely."

"What about you?" Axel frowned and Kairi sighed a little wearily. "Selphie didn't drink--thank goodness-and she's about to leave to take Tidus home."

"Well why not be a good girlfriend and take your own token boyfriend home?"

" Since Sora didn't want to listen, then he'll just have to depend on his _best friend _to get him home." she replied, sounding sarcastic when she said 'best friend'.

"Fine whatever, just stop running your mouth and ruining my time," Axel snapped, waving her off literally with his hand before without waiting to receive a reply, he walked off to where his gang was trying to limbo.

The girl could flip-flop more than the shoe of the same name. The entire time they'd been there, all she did the was cling to Sora's arm, fawning over him and bragging to all of her friends that her childhood crush had just given her the promise ring she had been longing for, flashing it anyone that would look.

And now she was willing to simply leave him with someone she now despised just because the brunette had a good time doing something she didn't agree with.

"Hey Ku!" Axel called, cupping his hands around his mouth to magnify his voice. Aquamarine eyes met his quickly before wordlessly, the platinum haired beauty stumbled his way over, blinking his eyes rapidly and giving a lazy smirk that Axel matched.

"Hey, Kairi dumped Sora and left him on the beach to fend for himself," Axel told him causally, knowing full well that he was wording the situation wrong.

"Kairi," Riku slurred, sneering.

"Kairi," Axel nodded in agreement. "Sora's beside himself and he's gonna need someone to make sure he gets home safely. I'll have to stay behind and clean up the beach here in a bit, it's my party after all, so since you and he get along so well--"

"Trying," Riku snapped, glaring at Axel with narrowed eyes (but the look just wasn't coming together, what with him weaving and such). "We're still trying."

Which was true. Since Sora and Kairi had hooked up back in their freshmen year, Kairi all but pretend the platinum blond didn't exist while Sora, still polite, otherwise avoided and ignored Riku under Kairi's influence. Loosing his best friends had bothered him greatly but closer to his senior year, he'd stopped caring so much. At least, about loosing Kairi. He never gotten over the wound that Sora left after abandoning him--but he tried.

Tidus and Wakka still hung out with him when they could--they were constantly playing all sorts of sports though mostly Blitzball. Both had serious girlfriends of their own, Tidus was with their childhood friend Selphie, who Riku also still got along with despite her being best friends with Kairi Wakka had finally won over Lulu, a quite and serious girl in their same year that was…unpopular due to her nature. (Or as he'd heard Kairi call her: "That Emo Goth girl."

They both still got along with Sora and unfortunately Kairi, both of which they were better friends with, which made things quite difficult for them to hang out a great deal. However, Riku had gotten himself a set of new friends: Axel, Demyx, and ironically, Sora's cousin Roxas.

There were other people that he got along with, but he didn't consider them friends. Just school associates that he knew: most people were just attracted to Riku. He'd never really understood it, people just seemed to want to be his friend even if he'd shown he wasn't that interesting in getting to know them. It was wonder he was popular really.

Sora was a very popular as well, though that was because he was ' a friend's friend': he always had a cheerful and friendly demeanor that everyone could appreciate and fall in love with. He was that type that was able to get along with just about anyone and it made him a very popular guy among their peers.

And Kairi, by association and even if he hated to admit it, being quite pretty, was very popular because of it.

Which didn't surprise him in the least; he suspected that was why she liked him so much when they were a lot younger. Bragging rights and popularity.

But that had changed over the years and she started focusing more on Sora as something other than a brother-like friend. And it had angered Riku greatly…but not for the reason a lot of people assumed. But since the pair had hooked up in freshman year, Kairi had done a great job of keeping Sora away from him.

It was just recently, toward the end of their senior year that the he and Sora had started hanging out again, though minimally. And while it wasn't the same, Riku couldn't help but like being around the brunette like old times. They didn't have to do anything at all, just be together, only the two of them.

Like it should have been. . .

"Hey, you still here with me?" Axel laughed, smacking Riku over the head and the platinum blond punched him in the arm in return, making the red head smirk. "That's better. Now fuck off already. I'm sick of looking at your face and I have a blond to ravish."

"Shit face," Riku laughed before shaking his head and forcing himself to try to walk in a straight line as he made his way over to where Sora was still trying to roll. Though now he was joined by a very drunk Demyx, who was sitting a foot away from the brunette and playing his sitar, singing in a slurred, off key high pitched tone incoherently. Though Riku could make it was some type of story he'd made up about Sora and his rolling.

"Zo!" Riku called in a commanding tone and Sora slowly rolled over on to his back and looked up at Riku before giving a wide, toothy smile and winking, giving him a mock salute. "Hey Rrrrikey."

Riku chuckled, rolling his eyes. "Jeez Sora, I only gave you a wine cooler and you're drunk off your ass. Damn your lame."

"Ass," Sora giggled and made a incoherent sentence when Riku reached down and pulled the boy to his feet, shifting Sora so he could place could get a good grip around his waist and placing the brunette's arm over his shoulder, began to walk toward the shore.

They got two steps before they crashed to the ground, both laughing as if it were the funniest thing in the history of Destiny Island.

* * *

"Oh Kairi, cheer up!" Selphie cried in a cheerful sing song voice just before she swerved to keep from hitting another car, the red head grabbing hold of the car door handle for dear life. 

Selphie may not be drunk but she forgot that the girl still couldn't _drive_.

The care grew quite for a minute with the exception of the loud snores Tidus was making from the back seat, both girls looking at each other and making disgusted faces before Selphie flipped on the radio to drown him out.

"I'm sure Sora was only trying to be polite!" she cried over the music and noise Tidus was making. "The guys don't hang out with Riku as much anymore so--"

"And that's exactly why I don't want Sora to hang out with Riku," Kairi sighed, looking back at Selphie with a pointed glance to which the brunette tried to pretend not to see.

"He's become such a jerk. He thinks he's just so cool now that he's friend with at asshole Axel and his little gang. Just look at how fast he abandoned Sora when we got together? And now all of a sudden he wants to try and come back into Sora's life and what does he do? Get him drunk! I told Sora we shouldn't have gone to Axel's party--we can't trust Riku or any of them. I halfway expected the only reason Axel invited us was because he and Riku were planning to do something to us."

"Oh come on Kairi, it was a nice gesture," Selphie protested. "We finally graduated high school and most of us are about to move away. This might be the last time all of us can hang out together like that."

"All of us never hung out like that," Kairi insisted and Selphie had to nod in agreement. "Okay, yeah. But it was still nice of Axel to invite us. And Namine even met that cool guy who's gonna pay her to draw him and his fiancé's wedding portrait. Just graduated and she's already got commissions for her artwork! How awesome is that!"

"Oh, you mean that Mar--whatever his name and that blond bitch he brought with him," Kairi replied in an unimpressed tone and Selphie looked at her pointedly as she rolled to a stop at a red light. "Kairi!"

"Well she was Selphie! She was so rude to everyone and put everyone down the entire time. She's worst than Lulu and _that's_ saying something!"

"Oh Lulu isn't that bad Kai, she just… Uh. Doesn't like you," Selphie announced rather quickly and before the red head could reply, she pulled off when the light turned green, making Kairi jerk back in her seat and glare at her.

"Just stop being so fussy Kai. Sora will be alright and everything will be fine tomorrow. He may be a little pissed because you left him at the party…but you guys always seem to make it somehow. You're like, an inspiration."

Both girls giggled and Kairi couldn't help but smile and blush a little. "He really is great. Knowing him, he'll probably try calling me when he's sobered up and apologize. He's such a sweetheart…he really is the best."

Selphie nodded. "And to think he almost would have ended up with Riku if you hadn't--"

Kairi glared at her and the brunette fell silent instantly. The pair remained silent and Selphie laughed nervously and changed the subject. "So uh…yeah! Everything's great and everything will be fine."

"If Riku would just stay out of Sora's life, you mean," Kairi grumbled and Selphie only gave her a nervous side glance before deciding to remain quiet for the rest of the car ride.

Riku and Sora. That was just something you didn't bring up around the her.

'I really gotta remember that,' Selphie thought to herself with a mental sigh.

* * *

He wasn't sure how they'd started this. At first, he was suppose to be taking Sora home. But with the way they were working, they were never going to make it that far so Riku instead, took him to his apartment. 

They'd tumbled on the bed, Riku landing on top of him and laughing, the pair just talked. Incoherent mostly, but communicating.

Then he'd just felt the urge…that same urge he'd felt so long ago before Kairi had taken the boy from him. And he'd acted on that urge.

And Sora had let him.

Nipping, biting, kissing, fighting for dominance. Ripping off Sora's clothing and tossing them into oblivion before sitting on him to pin him down, stripping himself.

Exploring the brunette's body, tasting ever part of his skin, finding ever part that made Sora make this sound that was quickly becoming his favorite: a soft, pleading mewl that drove him mad.

Once he knew Sora was ready, he'd prepared him, placing one finger inside of Sora and pausing instantly when the brunette cried out in pain, tears pooling in the corner of his eyes.

"Sora…if you don't want to do this, just tell me. We can stop," Riku cooed softly but Sora shook his head, smiling bravely. "No. I-I want this Ku. I just…I have to get use to it. Please. Keep going."

A gentle smile and he was devouring Sora's lips with his own, his tongue invading the younger boy's mouth and attacking as he continued stuck his index and now, his middle finger inside the whimpering boy, making a scissoring motion to prepare him before thrusting them in slowly.

After a few minutes, when Sora began trying to thrust back against them, he pulled them out for a second, pausing in his kissing to get the lube out of his desk drawer. He could hear Sora whine in protest but he only took a second, lubing his fingers as he leaned back down and attacked Sora's neck, biting down on it playfully before sucking and making Sora hiss in pleasurable relief.

Marking him as his own.

Once he was finished, Riku let his fingers play along Sora's thighs before taking his legs and pulling them around his waist, Sora taking the incentive to hold on to his waist, his arms wrapping around his neck.

They paused, both looking into each other's eyes, aquamarine searching ocean blue for consent…a positive reinforcement that if they took this any further, nothing would be regretted.

"Riku," Sora whispered softly, shifting in inpatients. "Riku please? I can't wait anymore. I need you now…please."

A moment later, he was positioning himself over Sora's opening and without a moment's longer of hesitation, he slowly slid himself inside the brunette, only getting halfway inside before Sora cried out in agony, burying his face in Riku's arm and gritting his teeth.

In fear, Riku froze, looking down at his lover with wide eyes. "D-do you want me to stop?" Riku whispered softly, and Sora shook his head slowly before pulling his face away, revealing that he had, indeed, started crying.

"Please Sora, if I'm hurting you, I'll stop. Don't push yourself to please me, I don't want to hurt you," Riku admitted, drunken haze or not, kissing away each and every tear he saw on Sora's cheek.

This made the latter smile warmly and with a small tug with legs, he pushed Riku in further, making Riku groan in pleasure and Sora whimper. "I-I want this. I want to be with you. Please. I'm alright. I just…needed a moment."

Riku stared into Sora's eyes, hesitating for a moment before finally, he slowly thrusted the rest of the way in, all the way to the hilt. He paused for a moment, letting Sora get used to the feeling of something being inside of him before he pulled all the way out to the very tip and slid back inside of him.

Sora continued to cry in pain but after a while, he finally began to make the sounds Riku was dying to here and his thrust picked up in tempo, his hands gripping Sora's waist.

It wasn't long before Sora was mewing loudly, grinding his heels into Riku's back and thrusting against him. Finally he screamed "Harder Riku! Please! I need you!"

This made something awaken in the elder boy and giving the boy and leering, predatory glare, he complied, thrusting into Sora hard enough to make the head board chip paint off the wall of his bedroom. Sora whimpered and held on to Riku as if his life depended on it, digging his nails into the small of Riku's back.

The spurned Riku further and his thrust became relentless, slamming himself forward again and again, all the way to the hilt--before he'd done it once more and Sora saw sparks, making him howl in ecstasy and trust hard back at him.

"Riku!" Sora screamed, the feeling of pure ecstasy washing over him and a mischievous yet drunken smirk formed on the Riku's face before he began attacking the same spot repeatedly, making the small boy beneath him babble incoherently and literally burst into tears at the sheer pleasure he felt.

He continued his animalistic thrusting until Sora screamed in euphoria, his head craning backward as he cried Riku's name, sending shivers throughout his lover's body that seemed to spiral right to his loins, and with a few more hard jabs at Sora's sweet spot, he finally came deep inside the boy, screaming in his own blinding ecstasy…

…and sealing their fate.

* * *

_**Closing Author's Notes:  
**Thank you all for reading what I have so far! I really hope you've enjoyed it and I will update soon!  
Until then: Happy Reading!  
Kamirine_


	2. Chapter One: Tension

**Author's Notes:**  
_This chapter originally had more Slash in it, but I decided to forgo it instead to explain a bit more of the past. And plus the scene went better with a later chapter I'm planning. Same disclaimer: Not mine, but oooh the fun if Sora and Riku _**were **_mine..._

_Please read and enjoy!_

_**When Distant Hearts Beat as One  
**_**Chapter One: **_Tension_

He knew something was wrong and yet he didn't seem to care. Like it felt right.

He shifted in his sleep, instinctively embracing whomever was in his bed closer to him, the other individual yawning softly and entangling their legs together, shifting a little in their sleep and finally resting, burying their face into his chest.

…and that's when Riku's eyes burst open. Wait--what the fuck?

He was _sleeping_ with someone. He didn't even remember going to _bed_.

His eyes adverted downward, trying hard not to move--or even breath--in the chance of waking the person. Messy, spiked brunette hair met him and Riku felt his heart jump a beat.

Oh shit. This wouldn't end well.

"Not good," he muttered to himself, closing his eyes and trying to remember exactly how he'd ended up in this situation. "Not fucking good."

As he rambled in his mind to figure out why Sora was sleeping--naked--on top of him, said younger boy finally woke up, his eyes fluttering opening and seeming to shine for a moment in the sunlight that broke through Riku's curtains, yawning with a soft purr (Riku had to stop thinking for a moment to enjoy the sound) before he rubbed his eyes using Riku's chest, seeming to nuzzle him gentle before looking up.

Honestly, if this wasn't probably going to develop into a serious matter, Riku would have burst out laughing at the look Sora had on his face.

"Uh…Riku?" Sora called in an nervous, alarmed tone, his eyes wide and staring up at the platinum blond, who's eyes (thanks to last night's activities) were being shielded perfectly from the brunette. While he kept a cool demeanor, his heart was beating rapidly as a million scenarios for how this could go after this moment ran through his brain, from Sora screaming rape, to the brunette not giving a fuck and the two deciding to shag senselessly.

Though the latter was more like a nice thought that he knew wouldn't happen. But from the fragments of what happened last night, he wouldn't mind if it did.

"Yes Sora," Riku replied in a casually, trying to keep his voice calm and steady.

"Riku…what happened last night," Sora asked slowly, look down at Riku's body and his own before quickly looking back up, a deep blush entering his cheeks as his eyes possibly widened further.

"Oh I don't know Sora, but I can take a few wild guesses," Riku joked and Sora instantly climbed off of him, wrapping the sheets tangled at his feet around himself as he got to his feet, immediately pacing the room and whimpering in fear.

Riku rolled his eyes despite himself and sat up, watching Sora clench the sheet as if to protect himself from praying pale turquoise eyes with his left hand while the right was sacrificed to his mouth so he could bite his nails fretfully.

"Oh god…ooooh my god," he whimpered helplessly and Riku sighed. "Hey come on now Sora, calm down--"

"Calm down?!" the brunette cried as if the task was completely impossible. "Riku…I have a girlfriend! I-I've slept with a guy--I didn't even know or think I was gay--"

"Probably bi," Riku corrected him and Sora glared at him in disbelief. "It doesn't matter Riku! I've never had sex with anyone before--and and--what am I suppose to do? How am I suppose to tell Kairi that I slept with you?! How can I look at her now knowing what I did to her?!"

'_Who the fuck cares about Kairi right now, damn it!' _Riku thought bitterly to himself.

"I dunno Sora, but you gotta calm down" Riku snapped, standing to his own feet and stretching before calmly walking over to him, taking the boy in his arms. Sora seemed resistant for a moment before he finally allow himself to be held, burying his face into Riku's shoulder.

"I messed up so bad," Sora whispered. "Kairi's gonna hate me now. A-and you…"

Riku arched his brow. "What about me Sora?"

The brunette remained quiet for a while before he finally spoke. "What do you mean 'what about me'? We slept together Riku."

Silence. "Um…okay?"

"This is serious," Sora replied softly. "Riku…you…we shouldn't have done this. Not just because of my relationship with Kairi. But because of my relationship with you. We're friends and just friends. And I hate that there may be something odd between us! It'll be awkward!"

Riku gave the boy a sympathetic smile before laughing softly. "Sora, it's okay! It'll be fine between us! Look: we got drunk. Too drunk. And ended up shagging. That's all! Nothing to get overly upset about or freak out over."

The brunette said nothing so Riku continued. "I won't tell your girlfriend if you don't Sora. We can pretend like nothing happened." Then, putting a foot in his mouth, he bitterly added. "Shouldn't be too hard right? We've been pretending we haven't been friends for the past few years? What's pretending we didn't have sex anyway, right?"

Sora glared up at Riku hurt and he immediately realized his mistake but said nothing.

"That was my first time Riku," he replied softly, pulling himself away from him and stepping back. "Just because I was drunk and didn't realize I was making the biggest mistake of my life doesn't mean it wasn't special in some way."

Riku glared coldly at Sora then, even going as far as to sweep the hair out of his eyes so Sora could see it. "The biggest mistake huh? I'm surprised you'd even know what a mistake is anymore Sora, you keep making them left and right."

Sora frowned. "What are you--"

"Going out with a loser like Kairi, abandoning everyone else in the process, turning into some goody-goody prep, take your pick," Riku snapped sarcastically and Sora returned the cold glare. "Well just because I'm not 'drowning in the sorrow of my own abyss' or hanging out with a bunch of immature jackasses that only want to drink and party doesn't make you any better then me. It actually makes you worse: that's why we stopped hanging out with you in the first place."

"No, it's because you're so far up Kairi's vagina that you're too scared to actually have any damn fun without her permission," Riku replied nastily. "And don't think you've accomplished anything. Sleeping with you wasn't exactly the highlight of my life either. But then again, sleeping with the clumsy and inexperienced never was my style." He sneered at Sora as if looking down on him. "I've usually got much better taste."

"You weren't saying any of that last night when you took advantage of me!" Sora snapped and Riku laughed coldly. Yep. The entire 'Shag me senseless while not caring' thing was too good to be true. Oh no: Sora had to go for the good ole 'You took advantage of me!' defense.

"Oh no you don't brat, you willingly spread you legs for me and no amount of you trying to convince yourself that I 'took advantage' is going to change it."

"Shut up!" Sora snapped and Riku snickered mockingly. "I see you've still got those _witty _comebacks."

"Just stay away from me," Sora snapped, pushing past Riku and storming for the door. Riku hunched, looking as though he didn't care even though it was killing him inside. "Fine by me. Oh, but Sora?"

The brunette paused, as he yanked the door open, glaring back at Riku.

"The sheet stays."

* * *

"…and your damn sheet too, you bastard!" Roxas heard Sora scream as he stormed down the stairs, Riku following him quickly and screaming a nasty retort of his own before he heard a door slam, then open, and shut again.

"Geez," Axel mumbled sleepily, reaching up and pulling Roxas back down beside him and holding him close, pecking the blond on the lips before settling back comfortably. "Haven't had this much drama in a house since that entire thing with that little ex of yours."

Roxas yawned and buried himself further under the covers, snuggling up close to Axel while the red head pulled the cover up completely over the blond, only strands of spiky hair remaining visible. "Please don't bring that up Ax. I don't want to even think about that anymore."

"He was the jackass, not me" Axel insisted and Roxas grumbled as he nipped Axel's chest and the red head snickered softly.

Roxas' old boyfriend. Hayner.

Roxas said the incident had been a mess. Axel thought it was the best damn fun he'd had in a good while.

Axel could honestly admit that everything that had happened was his fault--not that he wasn't damn proud of it.

He'd gone on a brief trip to Twilight Town because their third forth roommate, Demyx, just had to go see some guy he was trying to get with--not to mention he had a weak spot for Sea Salt Ice Cream and had to stock up for a few months.

Axel had expected to have fun. Have a lot of drinks, catch a few shags maybe. But what he found, was Roxas.

From the moment he saw the blond, he'd made it up in his mind that he officially belonged to him. And despite the fact the blond wasn't interested in him at first…or that he had a long term boyfriend…or the fact that Roxas and he didn't live in the same town, he was determined to have his way.

Axel smirked at the thought. For all intense and purposes, he had simply seduced Roxas. Praying on his emotions whenever Hayner did the smallest thing wrong. Always being that shoulder for him to cry on, a comforting voice. He'd been patient and it'd paid off.

It wasn't too soon after things just 'led to another' and the pair found themselves sleeping together, soon after caring on an affair. He'd sneak up and see him when Hayner was away. Roxas would make excuses and find ways to go out with Axel.

This had carried on for two years before Hayner, through his nosey little friend that Axel knew wanted to fall to her knees and suck his cock like the whore she was, Olette found out and told him everything. Then according to Pence (who Roxas was actually still good friends with) told him later that she even went as far as to set Roxas up, catching him in the act.

Roxas had felt guilty for hurting Hayner and he'd tried to explain but Axel, being understanding and caring about other's feelings as _**he**_ was, told the smart-assed little blond bastard exactly why Roxas wanted to be with him and what he could go do with himself.

They'd fought, he kicked Hayner's ass, he got Roxas and all was right with the world.

Even if Roxas didn't like bringing it up.

"…so stop being a whiny little bastard!" they heard Riku scream as he stormed back into the house, following Sora, who made his way to Riku's room and slamming it in the platinum blonds' face, making a few picture frames shake before both Roxas and Axel sighed deeply while Riku began banging on his own door for Sora to open it.

"Why did you insist on Riku 'taking him home' again?"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Axel protested.

"Like that time you insisted we use caramel?"

"You weren't complaining when I was cleaning you," Axel smirked, grinding his hips into Roxas' and making him moan softly before the blond looked up and smiled mischievously.

"You know, I _owe_ you one for that," he purred and Axel arched his brow. "Do you now?"

"….can't keep my clothes, they're _**my**_ clothes!" Sora cried as Riku finally forced his way into his own room, a loud crash being heard as he finally was able to break down the door.

"It's _**my **_damn house, I can keep whatever I want!" Riku retorted as he slammed his door shut, it banging right back open before resting in a closed position. Even with two closed doors between them, the pair could still hear muffled arguing.

"Geez, they're loud," Roxas announced in a dead panned tone and Axel nodded in agreement before tugging on the blonds' ear with his teeth, sucking on the lobe and whispering "Then let's find something to do to drown them out.

Without warning, Axel rolled on top of Roxas, pinning him down and attack his neck with nips and playful bites, sucking on the reddening skin while the blond arched into his hips, his arms fastening around the red head's neck.

"No caramel," Roxas moaned and Axel nipped his neck a little harder than he had before, making the blond hiss in a mixture of pain and pleasure.

"Then I'm getting the chocolate sauce." he growled in retaliation, already getting to his feet and storming out of the room. He paused for a moment, listening to the 'children' argue in Riku's room before smirking and rolling his eyes, he kept making his way to the kitchen, hoping against hope that Demyx hadn't used all of the chocolate sauce the night before last.

* * *

"Give me my jacket!" Sora cried, trying to snatch it from Riku--who was holding it high above his head and making the brunette jump for it.

"Oh come on Zo-Zo," Riku teased, repeating the nickname he'd heard Kairi use once. "You can jump higher than that.

Sora punched the platinum blond in the stomach, making him double over, Sora snatching the coat out of Riku's hands and glaring down at him with a smug expression. "Or I can just be an asshole and cheat. That seems to work _so well _for you."

Sora frowned when he heard Riku snickering. "I think you've said more curse words today alone than you have your entire life. I guess we're making some progress. We may just get that stick out of your ass yet."

Sora narrowed his eyes at Riku as the boy sat up in an upright position, no longer holding his stomach but instead, laying back on his elbows, looking up at Sora with a smug smirk.

Sora finally rolled his eyes and turned away from the older boy, reaching over to start picking up the rest of his clothes. Riku watched in silence, the smirk never really leaving his face, but softening before finally, he rolled his eyes and sighed. "Sora."

The brunette paused, looking at Riku, still highly upset. "Look…about what I said. Forget it."

Sora stared at him a moment before sighing and tossing his clothing back to the floor, he looked at Riku as if he was quite tired. "You never were good at giving apologies."

"And you never were good at staying mad at me," Riku replied, sounding a little grateful, and Sora turned away from him again, a light tint to his cheeks. "Like I said Sora, I won't tell Kairi what happened and…if you want…we can just forget about it."

Sora nodded but it was clear to Riku that something was bothering him as the younger of the pair's face seemed to falter and he walked a few steps away from Riku, refusing to face him.

Riku watched him for a moment longer before sighing to himself again and getting to his feet, walked over to him and pulling Sora into an embrace with his right arm, he covered his body with the very sheet that had started Sora's tirade of stomping out of the house-- naked-- and getting into a screaming match in the middle of the yard before finally thinking better of it and going back for his clothes with the left.

"Now what?" Riku questioned and Sora simply refused to look at him, making Riku pull him closer to his body and wrap the sheet around the two of them tighter. "Look Sora, she's not going to find out anything so don't worry about it alright." Then with a smirk, he added. "Mommy's not going to put you on punishment for having too much fun last night. I'll make sure of it."

"It's not that," Sora admitted quickly, hesitating a moment before burying his face in Riku's shoulder. "It's just that…Riku, did you really think I was that horrible to sleep with?"

Riku chuckled softly, resting his head on top of Sora's, inhaling the scent blueberry from Sora's hair and grumbled too softly for Sora to hear "Damn Sora, if only you knew how long I wanted to do that to you…"

"What Riku?"

"Nothing," he lied before cupping Sora's face into his hands and gently lifting it up so their eyes could meet. "Look Sora, it was your first time. I didn't expect you to be perfect--hell I barely even tell the difference. And whether that was because I was completely drunk off my ass or because you're just that good a fuck--it doesn't matter. I couldn't tell the difference and I loved being with you."

Sora gave him a grateful smile before Riku arched his brow a bit and added. "Why do you care anyway? I thought it was just a mistake to you."

'Tell me what I want to hear Sora…just tell me…please…'

"It wasn't a mistake Riku," Sora replied softly, looking him directly in his eyes so that he would know he wasn't lying. "I wasn't that drunk. I knew enough of what I was doing and who I was doing it with. I wanted…"

'…_to be with you.' _Sora thought to himself as he faltered in his words, feeling and looking immediately guilty for even having such thoughts. It was bad enough he'd cheated on his girlfriend…but in an odd sense, he didn't even regret it. And he didn't know why--why he didn't regret it or why he'd even want to sleep with Riku.

They'd never been together--and while it did hurt a little, what Riku said was right. They really hadn't been good friends or on the best of terms beforehand either.

But despite it all, Riku meant a lot to Sora…maybe not as much as Kairi. Or was it more than Kairi. Sora turned away from him, confused. He…didn't want to think about that right then. No, stick to the matter at hand. And that's pretending he didn't just say anything he'd just said, which he was very good at.

"…I guess I shouldn't drink anymore" Sora replied sheepishly, giving his trademark wide, toothy grin.

"Oh I don't know," Riku replied with a mock thoughtful expression on his face. "I kinda like what you do when you're tipsy. I mean two wine coolers and I get to shag you. Imagine what would happen if I actually gave you legitimate alcohol!"

"Shut up!" Sora pouted and Riku laughed, pecking the former on the head softly. "How about we get some breakfast?"

The brunette gave him a wide, goofy grin, his ocean blue eyes sparkling with mirth. "That's the best thing you've said all morning."

Riku shook his head, still chuckling before he finally released Sora and pushed him toward the door.

"…In the sheet?"

"Are you kidding? Everybody around here usually goes downstairs naked. The sheet is already too much, but if you actually wore clothes, I might begin to think something really _was_ wrong with you!"

* * *

**Author's Notes:**  
_Hopefully the chapter wasn't too boring. ::LMAO:: Thanks for all the wonderful people that reviewed this story so far, and for everyone that simply read it! I really means a lot to me so ::huggles:: I really hope you enjoyed the new chapter and as always: Happy Reading!  
Kamirine_


	3. Chapter Two: Never Giving Up

_**Author's Notes:  
**Once again, I just want to thank everyone for the support! It really means a lot to me and hope you enjoy the next chapter! Warning for mentions of sexual acts!!_

_**When Distant Hearts Beat as One**_  
**Chapter Two: **_Never Giving Up_

"I just want to know where you were," Kairi responded in a slow, deliberate way as she watched her boyfriend move around his bedroom in suspicion, changing his clothes.

"And I told you Kairi, I was at a friends," Sora sighed, looking clearly irate once he pulled the short sleeved shirt over his head. He began to stick his arms through the holes of it's sleeves as he continued. "I crashed there because we couldn't get all the way home. I slept on the couch, then when I woke up, came back here."

Which technically, wasn't a lie. He did sleep over at a friends house, even if he did most of his 'sleeping' with said person. And the reason they did go to Riku's house was because Riku didn't feel like they could get all the way to his. And yeah, okay, he didn't sleep on the couch--but they did sit on it while humoring themselves with eating breakfast and watching tv. And after he was done hanging out with Riku, he'd come back there.

See? So technically he told his girlfriend the truth.

"And who was the 'friend' Sora?" Kairi demanded softly, with a look that clearly said 'It better not be who I think it is'.

"I...stayed at Roxas'" he replied casually. Okay, so Roxas stayed in his own apartment but most of the time he stayed with Axel--who was living with Riku--so I mean, it wasn't completely a lie. Or that's what he was telling himself anyway.

"That's odd because I called his apartment and he didn't answer," Kairi frowned and Sora froze, staring at her in disbelief, before frowning a little, still feeling very nervous. "He usually doesn't answer the phone when he's asleep Kairi. And you like to call people at four in the morning."

She blushed, embarrassed as she stammered for a moment before rolling her eyes and stomping her foot, crossed her arms over her chest and stuck her lip out, her eyes suddenly large and watery as if she might cry. Sora looked at her and laughed softly: he always thought her pout looked funny.

"Don't laugh! I'm upset at you," she sniffled, stomping her foot again. "I was worried about you Sora and I couldn't get in contact with you!"

"Worried huh?" he repeated, looking as if he didn't believe a word she'd just said and amused all at once. "So worried that you left me drunk on the beach to fend for myself?"

Kairi immediately stopped pouting and looked defensive. "Hey! You're the one that didn't listen to me about drinking Sora! And I didn't just abandon you: I told Axel to make sure you got taken home!"

"Oh come on Kai!" Sora exclaimed, tossing his smelly old clothing in the hamper in one of the far off corners in his room, missing it by a few inches. "You trusted your completely drunk boyfriend with people you have repeatedly said time and time again shouldn't be given the responsibility of taking care of a goldfish? People that you said time and time again that you didn't like--and you trusted them to take me home? _**Drunk**_?"

'I could totally blame you for sleeping with Riku if I wanted to,' Sora thought immaturely, mentally sticking out his tongue at his girlfriend as she looked guilty for a moment before becoming furious the longer she remained quiet.

Which wasn't long.

"I told you not to drink Sora! You haven't learned to drink yet--you had two wine coolers Sora! And okay, maybe I didn't think it all the way through but I thought it would be a fitting punishment since you didn't take my advice. Maybe then you'd heed my warnings next time!" she exclaimed and Sora looked at her as if she'd lost it. "Kairi, I'm your boyfriend, not your child!"

"But you act like a child Sora," she insisted and Sora glared at her. "..Sometimes. Besides, if anything, I proved myself right! I told you they were a bad influence and what happens when you spend a little time with them? You get drunk. And I asked Axel to ensure that you got home and what happens? Roxas ends up having to take you back to their place!"

"You told Axel to have Riku take me home," Sora snapped and Kairi smirked as if she'd won the lottery, placing her hands on her hips. "Riku? But I thought you said you went to Roxas' place Sora."

Sora blinked, staring at Kairi with a confused and rather blank expression, realizing that he'd slipped up--but then frowning when he realized Kairi was trying to mess around with his head. "Riku did take me--to Roxas' place. It's closer than his and mine so he brought me there. Axel told me later that you'd left Riku to take me home and he took me there: so just because he didn't take me home, he did take me somewhere I was safe, which is a hell of a lot more than what you did Kairi so back off!"

He'd snapped the last part rather loudly and left Kairi looking startled before she angrily stomped across the room, snatching up her purse and heading for his door. He rolled his eyes and sighed loudly before demanding "Kairi? Where are you--"

"Home," she snapped, pausing at the door to glare at him. "It's simply obvious that I or my opinion isn't wanted here."

"Kairi, stop being--"

"I'll call you later, you know, when you've sobered up," she insisted before shutting the door to his room. He glared at the place she'd been standing for a few minutes, registering that he heard someone storming down the stairs and out the front door before growling in frustration, he picked up a shirt that was littering his floor and threw it at the door.

Just because he defended Riku, she thought he was still drunk. He let out a another long sigh before shaking his head. Everything would just blow over--she couldn't stay made long, neither of them were good at that--he's just wait until she called and clear everything up then. But he seriously did have to wonder why he went out with her sometimes--it was like she acted more like a mother. Or maybe, a sister.

"Eww, creepy thought," Sora muttered, making a face and proceeding to pick up the rest of his clothing.

* * *

Kairi continued to storm down the street, some people walking along the side walk taking one look at her and going out of their way to avoid as if they were afraid she would lash out and punch them in the face.

"I was only trying to help!" she insisted loudly, angrily as she continued to storm to--well she actually didn't know _where_ she was storming off to at this point but she was going there.

"Sora always being so reckless! I swear, someone could try to kill his mother and he'd find a reason to forgive them!" she shouted, making a passerby jump and stare after her.

"After he just abandoned us and changed and everything, Sora is still defending him like he didn't do anything at all!"

'You can't get too angry at Sora,' she told herself as she continued to fume. 'You never told Sora, what happened so maybe you were being a bit harsh!'

And perhaps she had been. But the last thing she wanted was to see someone like Sora--whether he was her boyfriend or not--with someone like _Riku_.

It all started back in their seventh grade year--or the end of it. The three of them had been the best of friends since the time when they were younger. The pair had always fought for her attention--which never bothered her really. It was nice knowing that someone other than her parents cared about her so much.

But when they'd gotten to seventh grade, something…changed. She and Sora were still friends, and at the time, she thought they'd be nothing more than brother and sister.

But Riku, well he started to give off another vibe. They started spending more and more time alone, and they'd talk about anything and everything. Then one day, Riku asked her if she'd liked anyone.

She remembered that her eyes had gone wide and her face had flushed with embarrassment…

"_Riku!" she squealed, shaking her head and slapping him repeated only his arm, making the boy laugh. "It's not funny Riku! How could you ask me a question like that?"_

"_Well I was curious Kairi," Riku admitted before his laughter died down and he'd caught her hand in mid hit, using her moment of surprise to take a proper hold of it. Her face began to heat up greatly and she couldn't even look at him, a nervous smile on her features._

"_Come on Kai, tell me. Who do you like?" he urged, poking her softly on her side and leaning in close all at once, his breath caressing her cheek._

_She began to stuttered softly, still refusing to look up at him. She really couldn't answer his question. Not honestly anyway. While she'd known that she'd had a crush of some sort on the platinum beauty--there had always been that odd relationship with Sora._

_That odd, one-sided relationship, where the brunette just didn't seem to catch any hints and treated her like a sister instead of as a potential girlfriend. The one that probably wouldn't go near where she wanted it to._

_But Riku…always protecting her, always the one person she could talk to, and those looks--they were same looks she'd given Sora. The same playful yet serious hints that would be tossed up and hopefully caught._

_She didn't like him as much as she did Sora. He was only a crush. But that still didn't mean that in time it couldn't grow, did it?_

"_Riku, I-I can't tell you that," she'd muttered softly, nervously and Riku make the most adorable face when she reached under her chin and made her hold up her head, his lip poked out in a pout and his aquamarine eyes seeming to shine. It made her blush just realizing how much she was staring at him._

"_Come on Kai. It's not hard to notice. Sora and I have been fighting over you for years. And…I want to know if I have to fight anymore. So just tell me," he stopped pouting and gave her a warm, seductive smile. "Should I keep fighting?"_

'_Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, Oh. My. Gosh!!' Kairi screamed to herself in excitement, practically dancing in her head as her mind scrambled for a good answer. _

'_Very attractive guy that already admitted he likes me vs. adorably cute guy that treats me more like a sister. What to do,' she thought to herself sarcastically before bursting into a fit of giggles and squealing in her head._

_She gave Riku a shy but encouraging smile before gently replying, "Keep fighting."_

And at that time stop, world ceasing to turn moment, he'd kissed her. Her very first, official kiss.

The pair had started going out that very day and everyone seemed so happy for the pair. Selphie thought it was cute, Wakka and Tidus just had the usual 'guy' response to such things--she guessed-- and Sora.

He'd been very happy for them. A little upset because, as he joked, he'd probably be the odd man out now since the pair were dating, but happy all the same. And Kairi couldn't help but feel deeply disappointed by the fact that Sora wasn't at least…jealous.

But that had only been for a little while. It turned out, being Riku's girlfriend was one of the greatest experiences she'd had--or at the time, she'd thought so. He was, by most people's standards, the perfect boyfriend: popular, good looking, and treated her as if she was the only thing in the world that ever mattered.

It had been pure bliss and had remained that way until the third quarter of their eighth grade year. Riku had just met with Axel, who from the start, Kairi didn't like that much. It was just something about him…something about his behavior that she thought was bad.

But Riku found Axel interesting and so when the red head invited the pair to one of his infamous parties, she'd reluctantly agreed. It had meant to so much to Riku and even she had to admit: getting invited to a party thrown by Axel was a rare thing: he seemed to be popular solely because he refused to associate with a vast majority of people and getting into one his parties was something that was talked about and envied because the parties were suppose to be that legendary.

And no one else in their group had gotten invited so she couldn't help but feel special along with Riku that they actually had been.

And that's when all of her regret had started.

The party was held at a secluded spot on the beach and everyone who was anyone seemed to be there. There were lots of high school teenagers so it made Kairi feel like she was just that more important to be invited to party where the high school teens would attend.

But there had been lots of things happening there that Kairi didn't like--but had said nothing about. A lot of wild partying, a lot of smoking, something she had never done and would never do.

And there was drinking.

At first she'd resisted for a while, Axel coxing the pair into having something and saying that it was fine.

"_I'll watch you little youngins," he'd joked. "Nothing's gonna happen to you, you won't get in trouble."_

Riku had gone and started but she'd held out a bit longer, until someone got the bright idea to spike the drinks, making it nearly impossible for her to not drink anything without there being some trace of alcohol.

She'd wanted to go home then: she'd felt uncomfortable. But Riku had pleaded with her stay, not wanting to look bad and leaving early in front of the 'crowd'.

So she'd stayed. And she'd had a drink. One drink.

To say that she was a light weight drinker at that time was an understatement. She was as bad as (if not a little worse) than Sora at it back then and she'd actually had one full glass of iced down Vodka and coke compared to his two wine coolers. (Axel had fixed it for her himself.)

And then it was a whirlwind of events. Dancing with Riku on a pier with two other guys. Stripping down to her panties and bra while screaming and riding someone's back like a pony, spanking him. (She would never admit it but even she thought it was funny.) The Papou Tree…thing she just never brought up.

And she remembered the tail end of the party. When she and Riku had gone out into the water to swim--or at least it had started out that way.

"_Riiiikuuu" Kairi had slurred horribly, stumbling into the water and falling face first into it before rolling onto his back, laughing as the waves hit him. "Come in!"_

"_Let me take off my…stuff," he'd slurred back, not sounding as bad but still no where near sober. He became to take off his clothing then, hopping on one foot for two seconds before gravity and coordination got the better of him and he tripped himself up, falling over, making the pair laugh for five long minutes._

"_Riiikuuu!" she whined, trying to swim on the banks of the shore with little success. "Come in! I'm booored!"_

"_Let me--get it," he rambled, trying in vain to crawl toward her while trying to simultaneously take off his pants. She'd gone into a giggle fit just watching him. Finally, he'd succeeded in getting them off and stumbling on to his feet, he held the pants up in triumph, a huge smirk on his face and Kairi began to clap and cheer for him before he tossed them over his shoulder and ran-stumbled toward her, falling face first himself into the water._

_She pounced on him and the pair began to wrestle, Kairi squealing and crying and laughing all at once as she was attacked, the boy pinning her down by sitting on her and tickling her sides mercilessly until she found it hard to breath._

"_S-stop! R-r-r-riku!," she laughed breathlessly. He only crocked his eyebrow up. "Not until you give up Kai! Admit that I'm the best, and I'll stop!"_

"_O-okay! Your…the best!" she laughed, her face turning red._

"_The best what?" he slurred, trying to sound sly but failing miserably. _

"_T-the! The!," she paused, falling into a fit of laughter and trying to breath before she could continue. "The…best…boyfriend!" she finished and he abruptly stopped, pecking her on the lips as she continued to laugh._

_It wasn't until a few minutes later that she'd finally put together that they had started making out feverously, her arms wrapped tightly around Riku's neck while he was messaging her sides, their legs tangled together now as he laid perfectly adjacent on top of her._

And that's where her memories faltered. She remembered the kissing. The moans as Riku snaked his fingers underneath her panties and began to insert them inside of her. The shivers of pleasure that invaded her body as after he'd taken off her bra and began to attack her breast, nipping, licking and sucking on her nipples, making them hard and driving her crazy.

The pain that had invaded her body when she'd impaled herself on him. The tears and kisses of telling her that everything would be fine. The pleasure that enveloped her being after she'd gotten used to having him inside of her.

And the fear and anger she'd felt the very next morning when she'd realized what he'd done. What they'd done.

"_What did we do Riku! H-how could you let me do that! How could you take advantage of me!" she screamed all at once, Riku only arching his eyebrow at her, looking unimpressed. "Kairi, you're the one that started riding me. I didn't force you to do anything."_

"_I was drunk Riku!" she cried, tears stinging her eyes. "You knew I wanted to wait until we got older--until I was ready!"_

"_You where acting pretty fucking ready last night," he smirked and Kairi looked at him in disbelief. "How could you say something like that! How can you be so insensitive! Riku, this is serious: I didn't know what I was doing! You took advantage of me and I'm angry about it!"_

"_For the last time Kai-ri," he replied sarcastically. "I didn't take advantage of you! I was just as drunk as you where and simply going with the flow. It's not my fault that you got too drunk to comprehend your actions but your sure as hell not going to blame it on me." _

"It's your fault!" she'd insisted, crying now. "I told you I didn't want to drink! I told you I wanted to go home! You wouldn't listen to me--you made me stay--"

"_You could have walked home," Riku sighed, unsympathetic. "It's not like I put a gun to your head and made you stick around. This is my fault as much as yours Kairi so suck it up and deal with it. You had sex. One time. So you can't act holier than thou anymore because you've been 'tainted'. Get over it. It happens. But stop trying to act like it's completely my fault."_

"He was such an asshole!" Kairi screamed, making a few people walking her way speed up and completely walk out of range as she continued to think of the horrible memories, no longer walking down the street but hitting the front glass of a Uncle Scrooge's Ice Cream Parlor.

But they didn't end there.

They'd broken up immediately after that. And she had never felt so betrayed by anyone. And she'd never disliked anyone as much as he had Riku at the time.

That was, until, Riku's new 'friends' got themselves involved.

At the time, Sora had been trying to help the pair repair at least, their friendship. He was never one to see his friends down or not talking so he'd tried for a good month to get Kairi and Riku back on speaking terms. It hadn't worked. But in the process, Kairi had gotten an interesting bit of information from one of Axel's little cronies: Larxene.

The blond bitch had all but gone out of her way to find Kairi, a cruel and amused smirk on her features as she pulled the girl into the bathroom, Kairi standing nervously in front of one of the stales while the blond with bangs that reminded Kairi of bug antenna's perched herself on one of the sinks, legs crossed, and studying her with those cold, piercing blue eyes.

"_I feel sorry for you." She began and Kairi blinked, feeling nervous and anxiety rise. "Why do you feel sorry for me?"_

"_So I guess you don't listen to all the rumors so well?" she laughed, uncrossing and re-crossing her legs, leaning back a bit on the sink. "We all know what happened to you. We think we do anyway. And I have to admit, even I feel sorry for you now."_

"_Why!" Kairi asked desperately, feeling fear creep up into her chest and spread. "Why do you feel so bad for me?"_

"_They may not be saying it to your face," the blond continued before giving Kairi a very knowing glare. "But we all know what happened between you and Riku that night. On the beach? We're all talking about it."_

_Kairi felt like she could have been swallowed by the floor. Everyone knew about her shameful night with Riku? And they were all talking about it? _

"_N-no ones ever said anything to--"_

"_Someone saw you two," Larxene cut her off and Kairi quickly got quiet. "That's not what everyone's been trying to figure out Kairi. We want to know if you broke up with Riku because you guys had sex--or because he tricked you."_

_Kairi just knew she'd felt her heart stop, her eyes going wide and her mouth opening agape, all the while Larxene watched her every reaction intently. "…Tricked me?"_

"_Oh dear, you didn't know?" Larxene asked startled, gasping and placing a hand over her mouth. "Axel and Riku had a bet--"_

"_A bet?"_

"_On whether he could get you in bed or not the night on the party," she'd continued, ignoring Kairi's outburst. "Fifty munni was riding on it I heard, though Marx thinks it was a little more. I heard it's why he was so desperately trying to get you to stay and drink. Cause he knew you'd never sleep with him if you weren't intox--hey!"_

_She hadn't let the blond finish. She'd stormed, teary eyed, to the courtyard of their school. It was lunch hour and she knew exactly where Riku would be: hanging out with the guys of their group right under this big and only Papou tree that grew on the school grounds._

_But when she'd gotten there, she'd only seen Tidus and Wakka sitting there with a notebook, doodling their latest strategy for their Blitzball team. _

_They looked up at her upon arrival, Wakka immediately getting to his feet and taking her by the shoulders, looking at her in concern while Tidus came over, looking the same way. "Hey come on now Kai, what's up?"_

"_Where's Riku?!" she'd snapped angrily and the pair looked at each other confused but answered anyway. "He's by the outer wall with Sora--hey!"_

_She'd pulled away from him, storming toward the popular hangout for the students that liked to smoke. She saw Axel, along with Larxene, her boyfriend Marluxia, Demyx and Zexion sitting on or leaning on their designated spot on the wall, the blond getting the boys attention before they all stared at her, starting to laugh, a few other kids joining in._

_She could feel tears filing her eyes as she balled up fist, trying to ignore them, focusing solely on her anger at Riku as she spotted wild brunette hair and shoulder length platinum locks._

"_Riku!" she'd screamed so loudly that it had gotten not just his, but quite a few other's attention. He's looked up at her in a bored fashion while Sora looked like a dear caught in the headlights, him being the first to speak. "Hey Kairi? What's wrong? Why are you so--"_

"_How could you do that to me!" she screamed, punching him as hard as she possibly could in the chest repeatedly. "I trusted you. I thought you actually cared about me!"_

"_A little late with that speech, aren't we Kai?" he replied sarcastically, grabbing her wrist but doing no other action, simply glaring at her through his at the time, shorter bangs, his aquamarine eyes cold and uncaring._

"_A bet?" she snapped angrily. "It was all just a stupid bet?!"_

_Riku looked at her confused and annoyed. "What the hell are you--"_

"_She told me!" she napped hatefully. "She told me that the only reason you went out with me, the only reason you pretend to like me was because you made some stupid bet with Axel!"_

_He rolled his eyes and let out a long sigh. "Geez, you're so melodramatic," he muttered retorted back in a cold, calm demeanor, finally letting go of her wrist and Sora stepping between them as she tried to attack again, holding embracing Kairi to try and keep her calm, still looking bewildered and confused. "I didn't do anything--I don't even know what you're talking about. And who the hell cares anyway? You claimed I 'took advantage' anyway. Not that I care if I look worse to you Kairi. Not after what you've done."_

"_What I've did!" she sobbed angrily, trying desperately to get out of Sora's arms. "I didn't do anything to you! I never even told anyone what you did to me!"_

"_Uh what are you guys talking about?" Sora asked softly but both ignored him. _

"_You're once again trying to place the blame solely on me. I know, now, that our entire relationship **was** a lie Kairi," Riku continued. " I found out how you really felt…and I know that you were really after **him** the entire time and was just using me to get jealous."_

_She continued to sob, glaring at Riku as if he'd finally lost it until it dawned on her exactly who 'he' was. She looked at Riku startled and insulted then. "Riku, I honestly did like--"_

"_Whatever Kairi, it's not even important to me anymore," he replied coldly, placing a hand up to silence her. "It's just…a little unnerving that you and I had the same idea…you know?"_

_There was a moment of complete silence between the pair before she narrowed her eyes at him and he only hunched and gave her a small smirk. "You told me not to give up Kairi--and I didn't. So don't get angry because I took your advice."_

"_You--"_

"--_**Bastard**_!" Kairi screamed angrily with her memory, hitting the glass again, making the people inside the store look out at her as if she was completely out of it. "He took advantage me!"

And he stolen everything from her: his first real boyfriend. Her first real kiss. Her time with another person--everything.

So she couldn't help but find it ironic and fitting that in the end, she seemed to have stolen the one thing that Riku had been after all along.

Once she and Sora had finally gotten together the summer before their freshmen year, it hadn't been hard to keep the brunette away from that stupid asshole: Riku didn't make it a secret that he didn't like Kairi as much anymore even if he was civil but more importantly, Sora had picked up on her overall dislike for Riku.

As such, the brunette slowly but surely stopped associating with him for her sake, so Riku wouldn't have to come around and she wouldn't have to pretend to be nice or socialize with him more than she had to.

They'd all called fowl, Riku's new set of friends, Axel being the loudest, thought that she had stolen Sora from Riku. That she was some wolf in sheep's clothing.

And maybe, in a way, she was--but that's what Riku had made her--just like him: a wolf in sheep's clothing.

She'd felt guilty at first--feeling like she was wrong making Sora dislike Riku--but that had lasted all of five seconds really.

Kairi shook her head at the mere thought. "Sora deserved better--he only would have done the same thing to him as he did to me."

She nodded, sure of herself. "Yeah…even if I'd never become Sora girlfriend--I would keep him away from Riku. It would have been the right thing to do--and I just made things better. For him."

Recently, she had noticed that slowly but surely, Riku and Sora were becoming friends again. And it bothered her, she couldn't lie to herself. She knew that Riku probably still liked Sora…but she also knew that he'd changed drastically, for the worse, since he started being around Axel and his cronies--not that it would have mattered: just the trauma he'd put her through was a enough to make the thought unsettling.

She couldn't--no, wouldn't think of what would happen if Riku somehow was able to worm his way back into Sora's heart.

"No, I won't let him use Sora," she muttered bitterly to herself as she hit the glass again, this time looking at her own reflection and completely ignoring all the people inside that were staring at her as if she was completely insane.

"Riku said that he would never give up…but I won't give up either! I'm going to keep fighting, just like he is! And I'm going to win--just like he _couldn't_!"

". . .Uh _excuse_ us, miss?"

She looked down to see three small ducks, staring at her, all wearing the same outfit but in different colors, the one in blue and another in green standing behind the one in red and obvious leader, all glaring slightly afraid but determined.

"Our uncle wants you stop beating on the glass and screaming at yourself cause your…you know…beginning to scare our customers."

"Oh," Kairi replied sheepishly, her flushing with embarrassment as she slowly lowered her arm, pausing to wave at everyone inside with a nervous laugh before placing her hands behind her back and swiftly walking away, the three young ducks and a few people that came to the window, watching her, making her feel further humiliated.

She really had to stop doing that.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**  
_Alas, that's all for now! Thank you guys so much for reading so far and I really hope you enjoyed the chapter!  
__Happy Reading!  
Kamirine_


	4. Chapter Three: An Unforseen Problem

**Author's Notes:  
**_Very mild sexual content (or mentions of it) in this chapter but it's still there. For those wondering about the last chapter and Kairi, you'll get to read Riku's side in this installment. Enjoy!  
Added: Something I noticed I put at the end (and I feel so stupid, my sister just had a baby) is that Ansem said something about giving Sora an X-Ray. Yeah…no. LMAO! Fixed._

_**When Distant Hearts Beat as One  
**_**Chapter Three: **_An Unforeseen Problem and Responsibility _

Sora grumbled in his sleep, moaning softly as his eyes fluttered open. It had been maybe three weeks since the entire incident with Riku.

It had been awkward, in Sora's opinion, when the two had seen each other after that. He and Kairi had made up later that day and ever since, she had become…clingy. And it was obvious that Riku wasn't going to come near him as long as she was around so he hadn't been able to spend anymore time with him. But they'd shared looks and small smiles.

Riku had even tried calling him once --he recognized the number to be from Roxas' cell when he checked his own later--but Kairi had answered his phone and according to her, the person just "hung up in her face".

Sora sighed as much as he could, followed by a deep breath and holding his stomach. Kairi--or Riku for that matter--never really fully explained why they no longer got along but he'd heard bits and pieces. Bad breakup bad relationship afterwards. Yeah…that was the sum of it.

Sora groaned again softly, swinging his legs swiftly over his bed and running as fast as he could for the bathroom, actually running into his own bedroom door because he didn't think of actually opening it, (he was still half sleep people, give him a break) before falling to the floor…and throwing up as he came crashing down.

'_Gross, projectile vomit,'_ he groaned mentally as he got to his knees and continued heaving.

It was odd: he had been fine before with no signs of remotely becoming sick. And last night, his older brother's boyfriend had made then his favorite dinner: spaghetti with marinara sauce and Swiss meatballs, with the side of the cheesiest broccoli Sora had ever had and sweet corn.

'Maybe…ate…too much!' his mind screamed as he felt another wave of nausea before without warning, he began throwing up all over again, a little voice in the back of his head whimpering because he knew sick or not, Cloud was going to make him clean this up off of the carpet.

_A soft whimper escaped his lips as he felt his strong thrust again, their hands entwining again. Long silver hair fanning out over his back and touching his sides, tickling him softly as the man on top of him continued to move instead of him a steady, strong pace, making sounds emit from his mouth as his legs were easily forced over his lover's shoulders._

_Another thrust._

_He was seeing stars and a mewling purr erupted from his lips as his nails dug into his make, making his lover chuckle softly in his ear._

"_**That's it Cloud…beg for me. . ."**_

". . .Sephiroth. . ."

"…What the hell is that?"

"Uh…wha?" Cloud muttered grumpily, yawning before smacking his lips a little and making a disgusted face--he never did like his morning breath--before looking over to his right, meeting a pair of stormy gray eyes.

The dreams. He had been having them frequently lately and for the life of him, he couldn't understand why. He hadn't thought about that bastard since he'd been abandoned by him.

'_I wonder if Leon heard--'_

"Sora, are you okay?!" they heard a bewildered voice ask from right outside their room, and footsteps trailing down the hall.

His only sister. Rikku.

"Oh, what the hell is wrong now," Cloud grumbled and at once, he and Leon started out of the bed and out of the room.

He was the oldest of three children. The pride and joy of the family, Cloud and his siblings came from a rather well to do family, his father Luxord, having been a retired S.O.L.I.D.E.R general and opening his very own, well thriving casino. But when he and his mother said they'd have to move to a much bigger city, Cloud had demanded he got to stay on the small island that had been his home from birth: he was a top student in his school, had one too many friends there--and at the time, Sephiroth was more than enough to keep him anywhere.

So they'd agreed: they'd always trusted Cloud greatly and thought him responsible and after having a long, annoying discussion with their mother, had gotten them to agree to let his sister and younger brother stay too, for the same reasons: Rikku was all but refusing to leave anyway and threatened to literally burn their father's casino down if they forced her and Sora, the baby of the family that could do absolutely no wrong, only had to pout and give 'The Look' before their mother caved in.

They'd been doing fine: his brother and sister had finally finished high school, Sora one of the top of his class while Rikku...erm…was more interested in one of his closest friends and unofficial boyfriend and the special talents of his tongue (he was really going to kill him), Reno. They're parents still insisted on sending them monthly allowances' (if that's what you called getting so much money) and all were happy.

The only thing that had honestly rocked the boat was his break up with Sephiroth, followed by months of depression until his new and serious beau Leon had stepped into the role and Sora's odd relationship with Kairi.

No one saw it coming and while no one really disagreed, there was a silent agreement between himself and his sister that something just wasn't…right about that.

But never the less, everything had been fine. Until now.

"Sora, open the door," they heard Rikku (and hereby, Ri) coo jokingly as she knocked on the door, pausing only to hear what oddly sounded like the younger of the household throwing up before she tried the door handle.

"Oh yeah, he never locks it," she mumbled to herself and he and Leon appeared at her side and together, opened the door.

Ri immediately laughed and made a face, turning away. "Gross!"

Leon sighed before starting for the bathroom, the spiky haired blond looking over at him, his only reply being "I'll go get a few towels."

Cloud nodded thankfully before going to his brother's side, patting him on the back gently while Ri came over and brushed his bangs out of his face, the younger smiling thankfully at the pair before making the official 'I'm going to heave' face and began once again, releasing the contents of his stomach.

"What you eat?" Cloud questioned and Sora shook his head once he could, trying to breath and calm down, as he was shaking a little now. "N-nothing bad. Just what Leon fixed last night."

"Nobody else is sick," Ri admitted softly and Sora once again began to throw up again.

"Does anyone you know have a cold? Kairi or one of your friends?" Cloud pressed and pausing as much as he could, Sora shook his head. Ri arched her brow. "Unprotected sex again, Zoey?"

Cloud could have sworn Sora looked like a deer trapped in headlights before he began throwing up again, Ri laughing her head off. "Awe, our little Zoey is preggers!"

"Rikku, men don't get pregnant. I now you weren't that good in school but come on," Cloud joked and Ri looked at him with mock insult. "Pish-posh brother dear! This here is what we call morning sickness: he doesn't have a cold, no food poisoning, but he's throwing up all over the place out of no where. Our little Sora has, like your hair, defied the gods and gotten himself pregnant!"

"Man, you're such a loser," Cloud laughed, shaking his head and looked down to see Sora glaring at them both, breathing heavily. "S-stop making fun of my--misforuuu--"

"Oh now that's just not cool!" Ri gagged as Sora threw up again, this time, right on her lap. Cloud smirked. "Serves you right."

"Bro, nothing could have warranted this, I just got these pajama bottoms," she sighed and ruffled Sora's hair in a soothing manner as he finished, looking up at her with sad eyes. "I'm…sorry…"

"Don't sweat it cause you'll be buying me a new one. From you know, Victoria's Secret," she announced and Cloud snorted. "Ri, for as much money as they charge, she can _keep_ whatever secrets she has."

"Not when I don't have to spend my money on it, she won't," Ri replied, sticking out her tongue and Cloud rolled his eyes as Leon finally reappeared with two big towels.

"Took long much?" Ri scolded playfully and Leon only stared at her. "Got a phone call, had to tell them to call back later. Plus you don't put the towels in the right spot so I had to find them. Again."

"You know I like to keep you guessing," Ri smiled sweetly and Cloud rolled his eyes at the pair, taking a towel from Leon and dabbing around Sora's mouth while Leon looked at the mess on the floor muttering. "Getting some gloves for that," and leaving again.

"…You know, I really should make you clean this," Cloud announced as they waited patiently, Sora seeming to calm down for a while and simply sitting there, Ri still comforting him while Cloud was cleaning him up and whipping the stomach contents off Ri's pants--only to have Sora once again throw up on them…and his hand.

"Alright, that's it, you're going to the doctor," Cloud announced as he got to his feet quickly, refusing to look at his hand as Leon came back in, catching the pants and hand and smirking. "Nice."

"Oh shut up you," Cloud muttered as he left to go clean up. "So--do you just want me to let him keep barfing on me?" Ri asked nonchalantly and Cloud snickered when he heard Leon reply "He's not throwing up all over my car, so yes, his head in your lap would be gratefully appreciated."

* * *

The loud ring of his house phone erupted Riku's slumber, startling him straight into consciousness. He glared at the appliance, his pale aquamarine eyes narrowing in hatred as he thought about tossing it across the room before finally, after the forth ring, he picked it up.

"What!" he snapped harshly into the receiver and a soft, cold chuckle sounded from the other side, waking him up immediately.

"_It's been a while_," it retorted in a calculated, cold manner and Riku gave a deep sigh before sitting up, trying to whip the sleep from his eyes and the anger from his voice.

"Hey Seph," he muttered groggily. "Why do you always call so early when you check in?"

"_Simply, to spite you_," his retorted coldly and Riku grumbled, looking over at this alarm clock. 7:45a.m. No normal person should have to wake up that early.

"_What did you say."_

"Nothing," he said quickly, not wanting to get on his bad side--it wasn't hard to do and his brother was very…good at holding grudges. So even if he was half way around the world, he wasn't about to piss him off. "What time is it there?"

"_3 a.m."_

"They make you get up that early?" Riku frowned "They wake us at four in the morning. I awaken at one. Paranoia and distrust of others makes you quite alert here."

'_**That's right, my brother is insane,' **_Riku thought with a mental nod. "Better you than me."

"_Let's decease this simple banter, shall we?" _his brother snapped seriously and Riku seemed to snap further awake but his voice. _"I've called you because I am actually on the road. I'm on my way to the airport and you are not to leave that home you're staying in for the rest of the day."_

"Sephiroth why---" And it dawned on him. And Riku's face seemed to light up despite himself and he couldn't hide the excitement from his tone. "You're coming home!?!"

"_Affirmative," _his elder brother muttered and Riku did a mental back flip in his head before almost immediately, it died down and he frowned again. "Wait…you just coming for a visit?"

"_Negative," _Sephiroth replied coldly and Riku smirked. _"I'm returning home permanently. My time here is finally over. Thank god." _That last part was muttered.

"What, do you want to eat something special or something when you get here?" Riku asked and he could visually see his brother rolling his eyes at the gesture with a cruel smirk on his features before he finally stated. _"Certainly. Why not?"_

"Fine, I'll make sure to get Zexion to help me cook--"

"_Is he still there."_

Riku got silent quickly. "Uh?"

"…_Is he still there, Riku."_

Riku thought about his brother's words for a moment before he realized what he was saying and with a little nod, he softly replied. "Yeah. He's still living here."

"_Good."_

"But Seph," Riku added, a little concerned now because he knew his brother wasn't going to like the next thing he was about to say. "He's…moved on. And they're serious. Real serious."

"_How serious."_

". . .Might be talking about marriage. Serious."

There was a long moment of silence from the other line before he heard a slow, deliberate, cold laughter. _"I see. A pity, for one to watch such time."_

"Sephiroth…I don't think he'll--"

"_You do not know him as I do Riku," _he said coldly, cutting him off. _"He may be stubborn and fool hearted but he is consistent and quite emotional. He's never been one to shut off his emotion--and any ill will towards me will simply be forgotten and waltzed around once I return. This person, whomever they are, are a substitute and nothing more."_

Riku didn't say a word because there was truly nothing he could say. Once his brother made up his mind, there really wasn't much a person could do to change it. "Your going there first, aren't you."

"_. . .Affirmative."_

Silence.

"You're more love sick than I am," Riku teased and this time, he got a genuine laugh from his brother. _"Perhaps. A foolish emotion, I believe. But one I carry, none the less."_

"Do you really think he'll forgive you?"

"_He may refuse me for a while…but I will not go unforgiving," _his brother said softly and nodding Riku smiled sympathetically, even if his brother couldn't see it. "When will you get here?"

"_Around nine this evening. Be ready." _And with that, there was a soft click as he hung up the phone.

Riku rolled his eyes and hung up his phone. That meant his brother would be here at like, four this afternoon but when come see him until nine. He got to his feet, stretching and preparing to at least put on his pants and brush his hair down so he could go to the kitchen cereal.

Sephiroth was, to say the least, the only man Riku has ever respected. When he was born, their mother had died of horrible labor complications. Their father, who had loved their mother very much, seemed to despise the youth as he blamed him solely for her demise.

And while Sephiroth was very close to his mother, he did not fault Riku for her death--actually, it spurned a hatred for his father instead, as his mother had asked her eldest son to watch over her youngest child and with her dying breath, told Sephiroth what his name was to be.

Their father had died a few years later, when Riku was only five, though neither seemed to care how or even why--they were only thankful.

Sephiroth had then taken it upon himself to raise the youth. He'd taught Riku his studies, making Riku one of the best students at his school, he'd introduced him to Sora through Cloud--and there was no need to describe how thankful he was for that.

He'd taught his brother how to handle all sword based weaponry, how to cook and clean. How to back people in a corner solely with your demeanor and words (but Sephiroth was still the champion of that, hands down) and had protected Riku so well that many a child, young and old were still afraid to even look at him the wrong way, even if they despised him. (Save Kairi.)

Then, just when he'd entered his high school years, Sephiroth decided to go over seized, on his (if you could call him that) best friend Zack's request, and aid him and a small but growing company that was being attacked called ShinRa.

He'd felt abandoned…alone…Sora had stopped associating with him along his usual circle of friends for Kairi and now his brother was leaving him as well.

"_I've taught you to be strong Riku, you will do fine," Sephiroth had told him and Riku glared at him angrily. "What the hell am I suppose to do while your gone?! I won't have anybody--you're all I have left--all I ever really had probably!"_

_Sephiroth, who'd been walking for the door, paused finally. "I will call you Riku. Every week if I have too. Know that you are never alone as long as I am alive. And even when I am gone, I will be with you as well. I am leaving you because I know that I can for this brief time. Your strong and can survive on your own…I'm not needed here at the moment but know that I will return. To you and Cloud. So both of you: stop bitching!"_

Riku snorted at that last bit of the ranted anger. Cloud had thrown a big hissy fit and down right broke up with Sephiroth, feeling abandoned as well. _'Won't he be surprised when he's on his doorstep,'_ Riku thought to himself absently as he picked up his brush and began to run it through his hair.

The thought of his brother's fallen relationship made him think of his own.

He could blame the entire reason that he wasn't with Sora on Kairi. And he honestly felt that he would be justified in doing so. But in the end, he knew that his own actions, in some fashion, had brought about her hatred of him--and her sneaky, vindictive ways.

It had all started really, when he'd gotten just a tad bit jealous. He'd literally spent years competing with Sora for Kairi's attention--not because he actually wanted it but solely because he knew that Sora did.

But then they'd gotten older and they stopped fighting so much. And somewhere along the way, his feeling for Sora had…changed. As did his feelings for Kairi. While Sora had never shown any inclining that he was interested in the red head--she had certainly shown that there was some interest there for him. How or why Sora was so naïve, he never understood it.

But he'd gotten an idea of sorts. He'd stolen Kairi away one day when they were all at the beach. He'd sat her down and simply asked her who she was interested. He'd pushed, saying that she was aware that they were always fighting for her attention and that he wanted to know if he should keep fighting.

He couldn't fault her for her misunderstanding of his words. He'd said that "Just let me know if I should keep fighting."…but then again, he never said for _whom._

And when she said "keep fighting"…that's when a not so decent idea popped into his mind. He could tell, just by looking her eyes, that she assumed that he had feelings for her. And Riku, to which he could admit even now wasn't his best choices, proceeded to let her keep thinking that. With a kiss.

Originally, he'd thought that she would say she liked Sora, letting him down easily. Then he'd planned right then and there to be open and honest with Kairi and tell her that he too, would be going after Sora's heart. But a chance like that wouldn't come twice so he decided to use Kairi to his advantage. If Sora did like Kairi, he would use her to make him jealous. Sora may be 'nice' but even he would confront someone after his feelings became too much and Riku would tell him then what he was doing and…well…hope for the best.

Not one of his best plans. But a plan, none the less.

But to his displeasure, Sora didn't remotely get jealous of their union at all. He actually became happy for the pair and encouraged them being together, only saying that he didn't want to be completely left out of their lives.

And then Riku found himself in a rut. He was dating a girl he didn't have romantic feelings for and the one person he did have feelings for didn't even seem to care. He was about to hurt a person that had been his best friend for years--she hadn't done a thing to him and nothing productive would come out of it, for him, for her, or no one else.

So, Riku did the only thing he could think of…the only right thing.

He tried--complete with consulting his elder brother and his new acquaintance, at the time, Axel--to actually feel something for Kairi. Not feelings of friendship or brotherly love--but actually real, romantic feelings of love and devotion.

He'd tried spoiling her rotten, trying to make her feel like she was a princess. Spending so much time with her that everyone that knew him thought he was completely whipped.

He thought constantly of all her pros and how the girl, other than liking Sora, had no cons. How it even seemed that she was actually falling, which he could assume meant that she'd either buried those feelings or completely abandoned them---all for him.

He tried to appreciate what he had. He tried to only think about her. He tried so hard, to simply love the girl.

But every time he saw round, bright ocean blue eyes--her eyes--he thought of someone else's. Every time they kissed, he could only imagine holding a another lean person, just as short but with wild, untamable chocolate hair. The soft breath that he would breath on his lips as he breathlessly whispered his name in passion…

Riku shook his head at his lapsing train of thought, pausing to clean his brush of hair that had broken out of his head before continuing with his brushing and thinking.

Sora had become his everything--and despite how wonderful a girl Kairi was at the time, there was nothing he could do to actually change that.

And then, Axel had his stupid party.

He'd been exclusively invited (as well as his date) by the red head, which automatically made him popular within days. None of his other friends, Sora at the time included, had been invited and most of the middle school students in their year would have died to have been, since so few of them had been invited in favor of the older, high school teens.

It had been a fucking blast, to say the least--even if Riku couldn't remember half of it. He'd finally gotten Kairi to loosen up and take a drink (though he didn't know her drink was something so strong), as the girl had been very anal about doing anything remotely that involved drinking or smoking. She'd always been that way, he supposed, but really, it was a party, it was time to have fun and it was time to get fucking crazy.

Personally, he had been proud of her.

He did, regrettably, remember that the two had run off to the beach. They'd goofed off, wrestled a little…then they'd just started making out. In the back of his mind, he knew what they were doing would be a big problem when he was sober, but then again, since he was shitfaced, he really didn't care at the time.

Clothing came off, he'd pinned her down gently and…

…had been all but been executed the next day.

To say Kairi was beyond pissed, was saying the least of it.

And to Riku, it wasn't so much that she was upset about the entire thing, really he'd been expecting to her bitch because he was aware she'd wanted to wait, but it was the fact that she'd tried placing the entire incident and blame on him. That he'd purposely taken advantage of the situation and made her do something she normally wouldn't do.

And that had down right pissed him the hell off.

She was dodging her own responsibility and placing it all on him. Making him feel like he'd been backed into a corner. And when he was backed into corners like that and angered, he became sarcastic and cold--or in this case, simply revealed how little he actually did feel for the girl.

As a result of this, they finally broke up. And he'd felt horrible. Not because he'd finally developed feelings for the girl, but because she was still his friend, and had been. And he hadn't meant to really snap at her or seem like a complete asshole. But his stubborn pride wasn't about to let him apologize for what it thought was unjust and unfair--and that was placing all the blame on him.

So they'd stayed angry at one another. And drifted apart.

Sora attempted for a month to put them back on good terms and while he didn't know what Kairi was saying, he kept telling Sora not to worry about it and just drop the subject.

He didn't really want to talk about it and he at the very least, was keeping his mouth closed on the entire incident--for her sake because he knew that it would hurt her if everyone knew what happened. She had this 'high and mighty' attitude and liked to think of herself as a role model and forbid him to be the one to ruin that for her too.

But then it just all came to head.

He had been minding his own business, reclining on The Wall, the popular hang out of all the smoking 8th graders--not because he smoked, but because it was usually a good place to find your own space and solitude, even if it was out in the open. And that's exactly what he needed at the time: solitude. He'd taken Sora to the side to finally talk to him about…well…them.

But before he could remotely begin good, Kairi had stormed up, about to cry, and screaming about how awful he'd been to her.

His first instinct was to be sarcastic but then she'd started going on about some stupid bet he apparently made with Axel to sleep with her that night of the party.

To which he denied, in his own way.

Axel, who didn't remotely like Kairi, had actually brought up (when he'd told him he wasn't really in love with her or anything of the sort) that sleeping with her seemed to be the only good thing about being with her but there was no bet. He'd even reprimanded Axel for saying what he'd said then, because he knew Kairi wasn't that type of girl.

But that was beside the point. He'd finally had enough of the girl and finally, just told her to shut up about the entire thing and revealed that he was well aware of the fact that she had actually like Sora and was more than likely, using him to actually make the brunette jealous.

Sound familiar?

Well what was it that Sephiroth said…'When it is you that has done this wrong, it's a lot easier to accuse others of the same actions'? But to his credit, he had known that she liked him before this entire thing started--and it wasn't that much of a stretch since she once brought up absently that Sora didn't seem to 'care' that they were going out. She'd looked disappointed and when he pressed her about the matter, she simply waved the notion off and pretended it hadn't happened.

She seemed insulted by the idea but then he revealed to her, finally, that he thought it was a bit funny and odd that they'd come up with the same plan. She'd gotten really angry then, completely with trying to attack him until Selphie had run over and hauled her away with Sora, Axel and Demyx coming over to speak with Riku about the entire incident.

He'd asked Axel then if he'd told her they'd made a bet and the red head denied it, complete with looking down right confused at the notion. _"I'd have to speak with her to do that, and I have no intentions of speaking to your shitfaced whore of an ex." _where his exact words.

Really. He never officially understood why Axel didn't like Kairi so much but he knew it only got worse after what happened next: within, maybe, a span of a few weeks, she'd somehow gotten Sora to go out with her.

In that same week, he'd discovered that Larxene told Kairi about the fake bet--just because she was bored--but truthfully he didn't care. He had been too astounded by the fact that Kairi had landed _his_ love interest: Sora hadn't shown any more interest in Kairi other than a sister for the last few years and he wasn't the type to 'wait in the wings' for them to break up for his chance to have her either.

It had made him angry--not at Sora--but at Kairi. Because, as Axel so delicately assessed the situation: _"That bitch did that shit on __**purpose**__!"_

He couldn't really blame her, if she believed everything she did about him, but it was still a hell of a rotten thing to do and he hadn't liked her since. And what was worse, since Sora was going out with her, the brunette had all but completely stopped hanging out with him, his inner circle following suit and all for the same reason: they didn't want to have to bother with the 'awkwardness' of being around him and Kairi at once, all the time.

Sora, he could understand. Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka? He could not.

And he'd shown as much, when he had completely cut them. He'd barely looked at the trio, let alone spoke, until recently, and only because Sora had pushed him into after they had finally gotten back on sorta good terms.

The only odd man out with Kairi--and he wouldn't mind if it stayed that way personally.

"Finally," he muttered to himself as he smirked, approving of his hair style, flicking a stand right in front of his left eye before tossing the brush back toward his dressing, getting it to go into the small cup that held his other hair items (and very proud that he'd mastered getting there from all distances) and started for the door…

…completely ignoring the red head and blond having sex on the counter in the kitchen in favor of concentrating solely on a bowl of Fruity Pebbles.

* * *

Sora was nervous, to say the least.

He'd always hated doctors since he was younger, when he'd gotten the flu and had to take all those stupid shots.

He didn't think it was that big of deal really: okay, he was throwing up. And he um…still was. But that was normal--_kinda_--when you got sick. So maybe he caught a bug, it wasn't hard. But he didn't know why Cloud had insisted on pulling a 'mom' and rushing him to the family's private doctor.

It wasn't that professor (because he was a bit of a scientist as well) Ansem (or DiZ as they had grown to fondly call him) was a bad doctor or even mean: he was actually really nice and always gave them Sea Salt Ice Cream upon finishing a visit…

_Sea Salt Ice Cream…_

"Errmmmgrraa," he'd moaned as he grabbed his stomach and leaning forward off of the stool so far that Cloud and Leon both had to catch him, he began throwing up again, one of the professor's six apprentices, this one being balled Braig (Xigbar), made a face and jumped back as if he was spewing acid. "Damn kid, gross!"

"Like he can help it," Ri scolded and he hunched. "Don't care. New shoes."

"Have a little more compassion for the ill," his partner in crime (no really, whenever Sora saw one, he saw the other) Dilan (Xaldin) snapped, taking a vanilla folder and flipping it open, studying the paperwork he'd just pulled out of a filing cabinet. "Let's see, Sora Strife, born December 8th…" he muttered to himself before frowning.

"Hmm…"

"Hmmm what," Braig replied in bored fashion as he walked over to the sink, looking back at Sora. "Want something to drink? Glass of water?"

Sora thought of washing down his own vomit, which made him queasy, and as he quickly declined, he began to throw up once again. Braig made a face and fixed himself a glass while muttering 'Geez'.

"There seems to be something miss-"

"Well, all test are certainly showing negative," Ansem announced as he swept back into the room, reviewing his own folder, being followed by his favored assistant and up and coming professor, Xehanort. The tan, silvered haired man gave Sora a sympathetic look before going to the professor's desk and bringing him back a bag to continue throwing up in before he walked over to Braig, slapping him on the arm and pointing at a mop.

"Oh hell no I just got--" one withered looked from Xehanort had him sighing and grumbling. "Getting the mop--lazy asshole."

"What you say?"

"Nothing. Nobody," he called back in an overly sweet tone and shaking his head, he made his way over to Dilan, who quickly showed him the contents of his folder and began chatting with him diligently.

"You don't appear to have any kind of illnesses, whether that be a stomach bug or a common cold to the flu," Ansem continued, seeming puzzled. "While your symptoms are…familiar…we can't understand why on earth you would be having them," he added curiously and that made the group look at him. "What do you mean doctor?" Cloud asked softly and Ansem looked at him as if he'd just realized he was there and being spoken too before laughing and waving him off. "Oh nothing to concern yourself with lad. The probability of such an occurrence as the one I'm speaking of is less than likely so--"

"Professor," Dilan called in a weary tone, as Braig came over, with his mop in hand, looking over his shoulder and taking a look at the paper, a mischievous smirk forming on his lips as with each word he read. "The young man's birth paperwork? You'd better come take a look sir."

Ansem frowned and giving Sora an encouraging smile, he walked over to his apprentices', reading the paperwork for himself before taking it from them and rereading it, looking concerned. "That's odd. Such procedure paperwork should have been included in these documents--I am his main doctor now."

Sora and the others watched him as he closed the folder gently, looking back at his apprentice while each carried a different expression, Dilan with confusion, Xehanort with obvious interest and Braig with a Chester like grin from ear to ear.

"Who is the eldest of you three? Cloud?" Ansem began and the blond frowned. "Um what's the problem professor?"

"I'm going to need you to get in contact with your parents as soon as possible," he began, already starting for his desk and looking for other paperwork. Ri and Cloud shared a look before they both glared back at him, Cloud seeming annoyed. "Again: what's the problem sir?"

"I'm going to need Luxord to send me the rest of Sora's paperwork," he explained softly. "I'll need to know a few other things before I can proceed with a few…other test that I will need to perform."

"Whoa, whoa, is there something really wrong with Sora? Is he going to be alright?" Cloud demanded in concern, giving his brother's shoulder a gentle squeeze as Sora looked up at DiZ with concern of his own for a moment before feeling a wave of sickness overtake him and make him throw up once again.

"Nothing life threatening my boy, no." Ansem replied before pausing and thinking about it for a moment. "But then again this has never happened and if my assumptions are correct, he just might have complications…"

"What are you talking about?" Cloud snapped and Ansem waved him off. "Call Luxord. I won't be able to perform any further test without the paperwork he as and if I am correct, then I do believe Sora is about to make history."

"If you dodge the subject, one more time, so help me…" Cloud began and Leon gave his shoulder a squeeze to calm him down while Ri began to call their father.

Ansem stared at him a moment before chuckling softly to himself. "Forgive, perhaps I am being a little rude. But I will admit I won't be able to really confirm or say much of anything else until all of my test of complete."

Sora's eyes widened in fright as he coughed softly. More test? With _needles_? "What other test, I don't like test!" he whined.

"Now, now, nothing to worry about," Ansem soothed, taking the phone from Ri as it was offered. "It won't be anything too taxing. Maybe a little blood work…and perhaps, a pregnancy test."

Ri looked like she won the lottery while muttering "And here I was just joking!" while Leon and Cloud both looked after the elder man bewildered, Sora's eyes widening. _"W-wh-what?!"_

Ansem simply gave a mirthful smirk before pivoting on his heel and without another word, walking into his private office, shutting the door behind him.

Sora looked down at the floor in shock, oblivious to whatever Leon was trying to tell him for comfort while Cloud quickly pulled out his own cell phone and began calling someone, glaring at Ansem's three apprentices, who all still conversing about this, sneaking glances at the young brunette.

And Ri now looked quizzical, humming to herself thoughtful before looking over at Leon and Sora and smiling big, said: "Well since I was right about that, you think this means I _will_ get that Reno covered in strawberry sauce like I wanted?"

* * *

**Author's Notes:  
**_That's all for now! Next chapter, it's explained exactly how Sora got pregnate plus Riku finds out! Until then: thank you all so much for the support and reading the story thus far. And as always: Happy Reading!  
-Kamirine_


	5. Chapter Four: One Step at a Time

**Author's Notes:  
**_I'm so happy that everyone is enjoying the story so far. I really want to thank you all for the support that's been given for the story thus far. ::sniffles:: It means…so much… _

With nothing more to say, here's the next chapter:

_**When Distant Hearts Beat as One**_  
**Chapter Four: **_One Step at a Time_

Sora's eyes wondered, concentrating on nothing in general as his mind wondered, no longer listen to Cloud talk to his best friend Aerith on his cell, Ri poking and probing him as if he were some kind of weird bug, or Leon having a heated but quiet discussion with Ansem's three apprentices. (One of which, Braig, seemed to really get on his nerves.)

Not to long ago, Ansem had gotten off the phone with his father, but said nothing as he came back into the room with a small stack of papers, reading them with interest before nodding at Sora and motioning for him to follow him into the examining room.

He took blood, just like he promised which meant needles…which meant Cloud and Leon had to hold him still so he wouldn't run away, like he'd wanted to.

And then what happened next was just…weird. He didn't really know how to describe it and it was plain to see that Ansem had gotten some weird kick out of doing it, muttering things like "Going to have to improvise, never done this to a male" and "Such a scientific marvel…perhaps I am the first…"

'_Like this would happen to any other guy ,' _Sora thought bitterly as he sat on the stool, swinging his legs a little to keep his stomach calm. He was very proud: he'd only thrown up once while being examined (and that was actually normal because he had a bad habit of feeling sick when he saw too much blood anyway, in a vile or otherwise), and was miraculously, staying calm--ish.

But that didn't stop him from worrying.

Ansem had announced that the results would be ready before the end of the day but the old man still wouldn't tell Sora how he could possibly even be pregnant. It was like he was a magnate for this sort of thing happening: there was that one time in kindergarden when he wore nothing but red and this stupid dog peed on him.

Then there was that time when he was in second grade, when Naming drew his 'picture' and for weeks, all the kids thought he was some kinda of elf…that been a nightmare and he'd had to hide literally, behind Riku to keep people away from him. (You wouldn't believe the ways people thought of to make him 'show his true self'.) Then there was that one time when he accidentally gave the wrong soup to an already sick Sephiroth when Cloud was taking care of him. . .

Yeah. Not even gonna dwell on that nightmare.

And now he was possibly pregnant. With his best friend baby. Sora took a deep breath. Riku was his first so it was no question who the father was--but it was _Riku_. They were barely on good terms now…sure they were playing nice and trying but they'd been…whatever it was they were…for just about their entire high school career. Now two wine coolers and a stubborn girlfriend later, he's going to have his baby.

Oh yeah…._Kairi._

"Crap, I _**completely**_ forgot about her!"Sora exclaimed and Ri looked up confused and pausing in mid poke. He looked at her as if she should already know. "Kairi! She's my girlfriend and I'm going to have to tell her I'm pregnant--and then I have to tell it's Riku's baby! Oh man, she's going to hate me and the baby and the fact I was with a guy she despises and _oh my god_, what if I'm a horrible father--mother--_**what am I**_?!"

"Both, who cares about her, and calm down!" Ri snapped, slapping him in the face. Sora blinked and Cloud glared at her, pausing in his conversation on the phone. She smirked sheepishly. "Always wanted to do that…"

"Look Sora, I'm not going to lie to you and say that this isn't a big deal: it's a very big deal," Cloud began, still glaring at Ri a moment before focusing on Sora. "But I will tell you not to worry. If you are pregnant, you'll be fine. You'll have our 100 support and it's not like we're poor so the baby will be well taken care of. And since Zack and Aerith just had their baby--"

"_I'm_ the one that actually had it," said a sweet voice over the phone, followed by a very loud "But I helped--and let me tell you how _**fun**_ that was!" before there was laughter and the sound of something being smacked. Ri frowned up at him. "How can you hear after talking on that thing, it's so loud."

"So are you, so yeah, it is a wonder I can still hear--or any of us," Cloud retorted and she stuck out her tongue, which he ignored, turning his attention back to Sora. "But like I was saying: she already has gone trough what you will have to so she's already volunteered to help you."

Sora nodded absently, still looking worried. "But what about Riku and Kairi?"

"Well, since you keep mentioning him, I'm going to assume he's the father then," Cloud frowned and Ri looked at him as if he were stupid. "Nooo! Really? And here I thought Kairi had a big secret Sora didn't want to tell us about!"

"Shut up," Cloud snapped. "Look, he'll either take responsibility or he won't. If he doesn't: screw him, you won't need him anyway Sora, you have us."

"But…the baby," Sora began softly, immediately looking sad. "A baby should have both its parents, its father and…mother-father thing. If Riku won't take responsibility…I won't lie and say it won't bother me. It will…if only for the baby's sake. It's half his fault, he should take half responsibility right?"

"In that perfect little justice filled world of yours, yes Sora. But not everyone thinks like you Zoey," Ri told him softly, holding his hands to try and comfort him. "It's going to be okay…really. If Riku wants to be an asshole, I promise, you'll have so many friends and family taking care of you, it'll be like having millions of fathers!"

"It's not the same," Sora muttered miserably and Cloud walked over and placed a hand on Sora's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. "It will be fine Sora, I promise…but…let's just see if you're even pregnant before you start to get an ulcer about this, kay?"

Sora took a deep breath and smiled a false smile, trying to seem okay with all of this and brave. But really, he was scared shitless. He didn't know the first thing about children--sure he'd been around little kids and he'd been there when Aerith had her baby--but it wasn't nearly the same.

He might have a living, breathing something inside of him…and it would grow and then he'd have to take care of it--he didn't know how to take care of babies except that you changed their diaper when they cried and gave them milk. Lots of milk. Or something.

"I'm going to be _horrible_," Sora whined sadly and Ri gave him a reassuring smile and hugged him from the back around the neck. "Let's just wait and see what the results are Sora!"

"…M'kay," he muttered miserably and as if on cue, Ansem walked out of his office, a red vanilla folder in his hand, looking serious but carrying an excited glint in his amber eyes.

That can't be good.

Everyone grew quiet and Cloud muttered he'd called Aerith back before hanging up the phone and folding his arms over his chest, waiting to hear the results.

"I'll begin, with an explanation for my seemingly rash actions," Ansem began and Sora groaned mentally. He was curious as to how it could happen--but he really wanted to know if he was actually pregnant first.

"This is an interesting situation, to say the least," Ansem continued curiously, opening his folder and looking at the information. "It would appear that sometime during your mother's pregnancy, your father made the decision to change the sex of the baby."

Sora looked down right shocked while Cloud looked bewildered and Leon frowned. Ri looked as though she was already fighting to keep from laughing loudly.

"However, the change was made at a point and time when such a thing would be ill advised. Upon birth, all signs seemed positive: you looked like a male--"

"Debatable," Ri coughed, pretending to choke and Cloud gladly hit her on the back to 'help' her.

"--and he had all the male reproductive organs--or to be correct, the _outer _most organ anyway. However, upon further examination at a later time, it was discovered that you had an unusually high amount of estrogen and furthermore, the complete workings of a dormant female reproduction system."

"When the hell was this found out?!" Cloud snapped and Ansem hunched. "I've only recently become your permanent doctor Mr. Strife, however from the information your father provided, it was at some point when Sora was between fourteen to sixteen. Apparently, Sora was kept in the dark about what all the test were for."

Sora stared at him in disbelief--he _had_ gone to the doctor an awful lot when he was fifth teen and his parents never really explained why except for "Minor checkups" or something just as ridiculous.

"It appears that you ovulated recently, before sexual intercourse and as such, were ripe for fertilization. Which brings me to my next and most important point." Ansem closed the folder and staring Sora straight into his eyes, he spoke casually. "You are, in fact, pregnant."

Sora couldn't remember a time a room fell so silent.

"Pregnant?" he repeated in a fearful whisper and Ansem nodded. "I do believe that this would be an excellent time to contact said..erm…father of this unborn child so that we may discuss your options."

"Options?" Sora squeaked before his eyes went wide_**. "I have to contact Riku?!"**_

Ansem looked confused. "Why yes. If he is the young man that impregnated you, then I believe this would be a good idea. Now I know this must be very confusing and quite frankly, just plain weird. But I am more than willing to help you through this and explain any and everything you need to know that I am currently aware of."

"…I'm…pregnant?" he whispered softly, still looking dazed and Cloud hugged him around the shoulder as he flipped up his cell phone. "Maybe I should call him, I don't think Sora is up to it."

"No--no! I can do it Cloud, he's my--baby's…father…thing," Sora muttered, becoming quiet with every passing word. "I-I'll tell him."

"Sora, are you sure?" Leon called from where he was standing, looking mildly concerned--or as much as he could being…Leon. Sora nodded softly and Cloud hesitantly handed him the phone.

The group watched him intently as he dialed the number, shaking the entire time and rocking a little in Cloud's arms, waited for the platinum blond to answer the phone.

"_Hello?"_

Demyx.

"Um, um, hi," Sora muttered, sounding shaken and Demyx tone quickly became worried. _"Hey, who is this? Are you okay?"_

"It's Sora."

"_Oh yeah, hey Sora! Wait…so--what's wrong? Are you alright, you sound hurt…or scared…want me to get Riku?"_

"Yes," Sora sniffled, on the verge of tears. He had no clue why he was crying--it wasn't like he'd done something wrong. . .had he? Well sleeping with a guy when drunk wasn't exactly a good thing and now he'd have a little trophy from it but that wasn't so bad…was it? He could handle this…couldn't he?

"_Hey Zo?" _he heard Riku call over the phone and Sora couldn't help but think he sounded irate. _"Demyx said something was wrong with you--are you okay."_

"No," Sora admitted softly, trying as hard as he could not to sob. _"Are you in danger? Did somebody do something? Where are you?"_

"I-I don't know if I'm in danger and and…you did it and and…I'm at the hospital," Sora stammered in fear and there was a pause of silence on the phone before Riku spoke again.

"_Okay Sora, just calm down and tell me what happened. What did I do, why are you at the hospital and what's wrong. I can't help or fix this if I don't--"_

"I'm **pregnant**!" Sora sobbed, dropping the phone and Ri picked it up quickly as Cloud began to comfort him, Leon striding over to do the same while Dilan went to get a box of tissue, Ansem and Xehanort watching the young man with interest and concern while Braig quickly left the room to get the other apprentices so he wouldn't be seen laughing.

"Hey, Ku? Ri," she announced smoothing, rubbing her free hand on Sora's back. "So yeah, you knocked my little bro up now what are you gonna do about it?"

". . ."

"I know you're still there, I can hear you breathing you know," she announced matter of factly, taking her hand away and placing it on her hip. "Answer me Riku, this isn't a joke here! What are you going to--"

Click.

She blinked then sighing, hung up the phone and looked back at Sora and the others sadly. "He just kinda…hung up."

'_He doesn't want it,' _Sora thought miserably as fresh tears watered his eyes and he buried his face in Cloud's chest while his elder brother tried to whisper encouraging things to him that he wasn't paying attention to. _'H-he doesn't want to have anything to do with it--why would he? He's young and has a full life ahead of him and if he doesn't have to--'_

"So what is the situation with our father to be," Ansem asked politely and Ri shook her head. "Dunno. He hung up on me and that was before not saying anything so I don't really know what's going on. Don't think he's too happy though."

"Well fuck him," Cloud stated matter of factly. "Sora doesn't need that little bastard anyway if he doesn't want to be around." He pulled Sora off of him softly and holding him by the arms, stared at him angrily. "Sora, what the hell were you doing with Riku anyway?"

"I-I don't know!" Sora sobbed. "I was drinking a-and he was there and Kairi abandoned me and then Riku took me to his house and then we did stuff and now I'm pregnant and he doesn't want it!"

Cloud let him bury his face back into his chest and looked over at Leon who shook his head. "He's not going to be able to tell us the details Cloud--not coherently."

"What do you mean, he just did," Ri replied confused and everyone looked at her. "Sora was drinking, Kairi got anal and dumped him where ever they were, Riku took him to his place, they slept together cause Sora was drunk and now he's knocked up but Riku probably doesn't want the baby, _weren't you paying attention_?"

Silence.

"Well that's certainly dreadful," Ansem mumbled finally, looking as if in heavy thought. "An inebriated young man, taken advantage of and now pregnant with the father not wanting to take responsibility. What a…mess."

"And who the hell does Kairi think she is to just leave Sora there drunk!" Cloud snapped angrily, actually seeming as though he wanted an answer. "She's suppose to be the responsible one!"

"S-s-she got mad cause…I-I wasn't--and--"

"Ssssh, you can explain it later Sora, you need to calm down first," Leon muttered softly, smoothing his hair and looking over at Cloud. "What are we going to do about this?"

"What can we do?" Cloud sighed. "We can't force Riku to want the baby."

"No, but we can have him beaten up, Turk style, for taking advantage of our little Sora and abandoning him when he needs him," Ri smiled brightly and even Leon smirked deviously. "I like that plan."

"N-No!" Sora sobbed and Ri immediately looked cresset fallen. "But Soooraaa! He's being a jeeeerk!"

"H-he didn't take advantage of me--we both drank and…I wanted…to…"

He paused for a moment, face heating up as he knew everyone was staring directly at him now. "I-it's my problem now and if R-r-riku doesn't want to k-k-keep it (hiccup), I will!" he stammered and Ansem nodded. "Then I take it you want to keep the child? Delightful!"

"Yeah, just _delightful_," Cloud muttered sarcastically, glaring at Ansem and he hunched. "This is a scientific break through! Imagine: a male having a natural conception and birth--"

"Okay, yeah, we're not taking this to the papers," Cloud snapped and Ansem and his apprentices immediately looked heartbroken. "No! I won't have Sora being treated like some kind of weird circus freak for something that should be an otherwise, natural event."

Sora shook his head, still crying though not as much. "I-I don't want that…b-but I do want D-diZ to continue being my doctor." The professor looked honored and Leon nodded in approval, looking at Cloud. "He and his apprentices already know so it would keep things quiet and easy for him."

"Right," Cloud agreed, glaring over at Ri as she began to head for the door, on his cell phone again. "Yeah Yuffie? You won't _believe_ what happened to Sora!"

"Rikku, no! She'll tell everyone," Cloud snapped angrily, storming over to her and hanging up the phone, Ri snatching it back. Before he could retaliate, both freeze as her male counterpart came stormed into the room, looking wildly around until spotting Sora.

"Where'd you come from," Cloud frowned. "And how did you know where to come to?" Ri added but he completely ignored the pair, heading straight for Sora as Braig and Ansem's three other apprentices peaked into the room without entering, looking on with interest and ridicule.

"What are you--" Leon started but fell silent when Riku took Sora away from him and into his own arms hugging him closely.

"I didn't know what to do so I, you know, ran," Riku admitted softly, rocking Sora back and forth slightly. "Axel caught me a block away and made me get in the car so he could drive me here. I'm sorry I didn't stay on the phone but I didn't know what to say anymore."

". . .R-Riku…"

"I'm sorry Sora," he continued softly, smoothing his hair and ignoring everyone else around them. "I didn't mean for this to happen to you I swear--I didn't even know guys _**could **_get pregnant--go figure, huh?"

"Riku…"

"I mean at first I thought you were joking around because you are kinda goofy but you sounded so upset and Ri sounded so pissed off like she might twist my balls off --"

"Riku!"

"Yeah?" he asked, looking down at Sora who pushed him away and sighed, breathing hard. "It's okay--just let me breath!"

"Oh…yeah. That," Riku nodded, having a faint sheepish smirk before frowning in worry. "Fuck, I squeezed you too hard, are you okay? Is the baby--!"

"Calm down young man, calm down," Ansem laughed, getting his attention and stepping forward. "I think we're all just happy that you're here…and ready to take responsibility." Riku looked hesitant for a moment but nodded. "Well yeah…I mean I'm not good with kids but I can figure it out, I think."

Ansem nodded. "Most first time parents have no idea what they should do or be doing. That's why I'll be here to help you. You'll be getting all sorts of reading material and I'll give you my own private cell number so that if you have any questions, you may call me."

"But what happened?" Riku questioned looking confused. "Seriously: how can Sora even get pregnant? I mean, he's always been a bit…_girly_…but I didn't think he could actually get _pregnant_."

"Gee, thanks," Sora grumbled and Riku couldn't help but smirk a little as Ansem opened his mouth to answer, having Ri cut him off first. "Apparently, our parents messed something up and Sora has a girly reproductive system. So when you guys got it on with the unprotected business, you knocked him up."

Riku nodded slowly but still seemed confused. "So what do we do now?"

"Well let's talk about your options," Ansem announced and Riku immediately frowned at him coldly. "We're not terminating it, we're not having it for anyone else or donating it science, and we're not putting it up for adoption. Does that help?"

"About forty-five minutes of it, yes," Ansem admitted and Sora looked up at Riku with wide eyes. "You…want to keep it?"

Riku narrowed his eyes at him suspiciously. "Don't you?"

Sora looked away from him, unsure. "I-I don't want to kill it…and I do want to keep it but I'm afraid."

Riku hunched. "Don't be. I won't let anything happen to you or the baby. I'm not gonna abandon you and there's no way I'm letting you go through this alone."

Then Riku smiled a little. "Actually, this is kinda cool. My own little me. Wonder if he'll have my hair. . .hope so. . ."

"Riku!" Sora whined, glaring at him and startling a few people around them. "Riku--why aren't you freaking out! I'm about to have a baby for you and you're laughing and smiling like a big idiot! W-we're not even together and what am I suppose to do about Kairi?!"

"Okay, first of all, don't worry about Kairi right now, she's the least of what's important," Riku replied in a bored, casual tone. " Secondly: Yeah, okay we're not together…_which isn't my fault…_"

"What?!" Sora cried bewildered and Cloud arched his brow and looked over at Leon, who didn't seem to miss that last bit Riku had all but whispered either.

"Nothing. Anyway, look, I'm worried and yes I care, but I'm not going completely freak out about it. Your pregnant and we're having a kid--not much I can do about that. But if we can get through school, we can get through this. Just one step at a time. We'll be fine Zo."

Sora shook his head. "You make this sound too easy Riku."

"What? It is easy Zo, look: You have it, we raise it and you--because I refuse to--cry when it goes to college. What else is there?" Riku hunched matter of factly and Braig whistled as he rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Uh Riku…there's more to it than that," Cloud muttered and Riku sighed. "Yeah, okay, details. But…that's the gist of the timeline right: You have it, raise it, then ship it off to college and hope it actually becomes president instead of partying all your hard earned saved money away."

"Is it really that simple," Sora asked in a tiny hopeful voice and Ri slapped him over the head. "No! Riku, shut up, you're not allowed to explain _anything_ to Sora anymore, he's too naïve!"

"What?! That's what _happens_!" Riku snapped and the pair got into a heated debate, Ansem, Cloud and the apprentices watching silently while Sora drifted off into his own little world.

Riku was on board and was taking it well which not only surprised but excited Sora. This just might work out. Neither of them knew what to do so they could learn it together--maybe Riku was right. This could be fun. Sure, his mom might freak out--a lot--and Kairi might…

Kairi.

Sora took a deep breath and closed his eyes. No matter what anyone said, this was going to have to come up: he was going to have to explain this to her. He could just imagine her reaction; she would cry probably and scream at him. She'd slap him and declare her everlasting hatred.

Then he'd be out of a friend and despite being slightly annoying, otherwise good girlfriend whom he'd cheated on.

Wonderful. And just the thought of it now was beginning to make him feel nauseous again. . .

"Huh?! Oh Sora, that's gross!" Riku shouted as the brunette threw up all of his chest, his face twisted up in utter disgusted before he closed his eyes and chuckled miserably while Ri smirked in satisfaction.

"Better your chest than my lap, buddy."

* * *

_**Author's Notes:**_  
_As always, thank you so much for reading and/or reviewing the new chapter. Next chapter:  
__Riku and Sora will talk about…them.  
Axel and the gang will find out about the pregnancy.  
__Cloud is reunited with a certain One-Winged Angel.  
__Until next time: Happy Reading!  
-Kamirine_


	6. Chapter Five: Saints Angels & Sinners

_**Author's Notes  
**I'll begin by saying Happy Memorial's Day! I'm really hope you guys enjoy this chapter, a bit of fluff is in it but it's not too bad hopefully. Not really much more I can say (I'm actually at a lost for words...go figure) so I'll just let you guys enjoy the chapter! _

_**When Distant Hearts Beat as One  
**_**Chapter Five: **_Saints, Angels, and Sinners_

"Axel," Roxas pouted, sticking out his bottom lip and making it quiver as he laid his head on his shoulder, making the red head arch his brow as he shifted his eyes over in his direction. "What?"

"I'm hungry."

"And?"

"And how about you give me a lick of your Sea Salt Ice Cream," he sniffled and Axel laughed. "How bout no?"

"Oh come on Ax, it's the last one and you know I called it yesterday, you bastard," Roxas snapped, his entire 'cute' charade melting as he sat up and punched him in the shoulder.

Axel only smirked evilly, waving the light blue frozen treat in front of Roxas' face. "You called it yesterday but I'm eating it _today_. So go get your own artificial flavor to suck on."

The blond glared sourly at him for a few moments before slowly leaning forward, placing both of his hands on Axel's thighs, smirking at the red head who watched him closely with narrowed emerald eyes.

He slowly licked the icy treat with the tip of his tongue, from the base all the way to the tip before swallowing the entire thing into his mouth and down his throat, sucking hard on it as he slowly pulled the treat out of his mouth, a small 'pop' sounding as it finally left his mouth.

"My Roxy," Axel purred in a low, threatening and seductive tone as the blond put the treat back in his mouth. "I didn't know you were ready to _**play**_."

Axel watched Roxas pull the treat out of his mouth again, licking at it playfully before kissing the tip of it and giving the red head an innocent smile. "What are you talking about Ax? I just wanted a taste."

"Well if you only wanted a taste," Axel whispered amused, playing with the belt around his waist before both jumped and glared at the front door as it slammed open as Riku walked in seeming as calm as usual while he was followed by a troubled looking Sora.

"Hey, your back," Axel greeted, lightening up before looking up at the clock and back at Riku. "Been gone a while though huh?"

Riku glared. "I thought you were going to sit out and wait in the car for me, you ass."

"For what, the whole day?" Axel snapped sarcastically before waving him off. "Hell no. After ten minutes I came back here. It was hot in the car."

"It was--Axel heat doesn't bother you!" Riku snapped and the red head simply shrugged. "Fine. Got bored."

"Then you could have come inside."

"Didn't want to intrude on whatever was going on in there cause you know: wasn't any of my business," Axel insisted, ignoring the skeptical look Roxas tossed his way before giving Riku a sly smile and an arched brow. "So hey, what was going on in there anyway?"

Riku and Sora glanced at each other before the latter looked at his hands, blushingly slightly in embarrassment while Riku looked anywhere but at the pair sitting on the couch.

"Nothing important." they both replied as causally as they could in unison and the pair on the couch shared a look as they got up from the couch and approached while Demyx finally peeked his head out of the kitchen and spotting the newly arrived duo, came out.

"Nothing important my ass," the mohawked blond sang teasingly as he finished cleaning his hands on his apron and staring directly at Sora. "You sounded far too upset over the phone and Riku left way too abruptly for it just be 'nothing important'."

"No no, I'm fine now," Sora insisted, giving the blond a small sheepish grin as he felt Riku take a hold of his shoulders and guide him toward the stairs. "We just need to discuss a few things," Riku announced, glaring at the trio as if to say this round of Q & A was officially over. "Go back to be bored."

The trio watched the pair go up the stairs before looking at each other in suspicion and sharing the same look: Riku was bullshitting again.

"He's lying," Roxas stated matter of factly.

"They're hiding something major," Demyx agreed and Axel smirked. "Then you know we only have once choice here boys."

"Axel," Roxas frowned immediately in disapproval but Demyx simply rolled his eyes and went back to the kitchen. "I'll pass, I'm making food to please the savage beast."

"That asshole's coming back," Axel asked curiously and Demyx nodded. "Since when?!"

"Since he called this morning and Riku asked me to prepare his favorite meal," Demyx sang grandly, pausing in his dramatic hand display to study a stain on his apron before with a shrug he twirled around a few time and danced his way back into the pleasant smelling room.

A moment later, he stuck his head back out, a mischievous smirk on his features. "But do tell me what it is Ax baby, I so desperately want to know, yes?"

"Sure, whatever," Axel agreed as he caught Roxas by the end of his shirt as the blond tried to sneak past him and out of the front door. Demyx gave him a mock salute and disappeared into the kitchen again while the red head looked over at Roxas with a evil smirk.

"Where the hell were you going? You're going down with me if I get caught."

"Such an evil, controlling bastard," Roxas muttered jokingly before he noted that the red head still had the popsicle. "Give me the--"

"No."

"See? Evil bastard."

"Stop being such a fucking baby and come with me," Axel sighed, passing the boy his treat and pulling him up the stairs and down the hallway, ignoring the suggestive way Roxas sucked on the treat and the way the blond glared in a manful manner at him with those beautifully bright eyes of his.

He made it…hard to say the least…to concentrate but his desire to get into Riku's business was far too strong for even Roxas to deter--for now.

As the pair crouched down on either side of Riku's bedroom door as quietly as possible, well minus Axel snapping at Roxas to the way he was sucking on the Salty treat before they had a _problem _in a whisper, a certain brunette and turquoise eyed beauty sat on the latter's bed, the Sora with his head in Riku's lap and hugging him for comfort around the middle while Riku stroked his hair absently.

"So we don't tell Kairi until you're a few months along?" Riku asked softly and Sora nodded. "I don't want to deal with that right now Riku. I can't."

"That's fine Sora, but we are going to have to tell her. And I don't want that kind of stress on you when it's critical either," Riku warned and the smaller boy sighed, snuggling up against him further and smelling him absently. Riku always had this wonderful…scent.

Man he was weird.

"It gives me anxiety just thinking about so I can't tell her now," he insisted and Riku nodded. "Then we'll wait to do it when you're ready. That way it won't take any tolls on you or the baby."

Sora nodded. "Cloud said he'd call my parents back and tell them the news so…my entire family will know."

"I'll tell my brother, can't keep anything from him anyway," Riku announced and Sora nodded slowly, a bit unsure. "He won't get mad will he?"

"What does it matter," Riku asked curiously looking down at the boy and Sora only snuggled his face against him further still, giving Riku the fleeting thought of a kitten. "It really doesn't but our brothers aren't on good terms and I don't want this to make that worse."

"I don't think it will," Riku announced gently, still stroking his hair. "I admit, he will think it's odd but I'm not even sure Sephiroth won't care too much about this since I'm taking responsibility--he's big on responsibility."

"About that," Sora began hesitantly and Riku frowned down at him. "Why Riku?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you so willing to help me out with this," Sora asked softly, looking up at him almost helplessly--and Riku had to fight the urge to calm those pouty lips of his. "I know we haven't been on the best of terms and I know you hate Kairi. Why didn't you just…"

"Abandon you?" Riku asked coldly, instantly looking insulted and Sora immediately looked down in guilt. "Sora, why would you think I'd do that? Because of what happened between Kairi and I?"

"No, I don't really know what happened! Except…a little," Sora admitted. "It kinda…I mean it is a little disheartening though."

"What happened between the two of us isn't the same as having a baby with someone I lo--care about," Riku retorted sternly and Sora looked back up at him with childlike wide eyes. "Sora, Kairi was just, like, not the same. None of it was. But I'd never leave you with such a big responsibility on your own."

"Because you feel guilty?" Sora asked softly, and Riku could have sworn he saw hope in the boy's eyes.

"No," Riku stated matter of factly and he saw a flash of--something--in Sora's eyes. "No Sora, it's got nothing to do with that. I would have helped you regardless of it being my child or not. Just because it's you."

There was silence between the pair and Riku could have sworn he heard whispering not so far away before Sora looked away, a gentle smile on his face but guilt evident as well.

"What's wrong Sora."

"I'm being selfish," he announced, refusing to look at him and Riku arched a brow. "How so?"

"I…think I would have felt bad if you were only helping me for the baby," Sora admitted and time almost seemed to stop for Riku. He let another round of silence play between the pair before he asked simply. "Why."

"I was so scared when DiZ told me I was going to have a baby," Sora admitted. "And when Ri said you hung up the phone…I thought you didn't want to have anything to do with the baby because you hated me. But when you came, I felt so…so happy."

Riku stopped stroking his hair when Sora sat up a little, resting his chin on his chest and looking up at him with such an adorable face that it actually made his queasy when he mentally cooed at him.

Damn that adorable child like innocence that he so desperately wanted to molest at this very second. Damn it all to hell.

"And you were so willing to help and wanted to be there for me…it just made the entire thing better--it made me excited to have the baby. But…then I thought about it…and I remembered that we haven't been getting along until recently and I thought that maybe you were only doing it for _only_ the baby and…it made me…"

Sora shifted his gaze to a pillow. "The thought of you not wanting to be around because of me…and knowing that Kairi won't once she found out…it was beginning to kill me inside Riku and I want you to be here for…both of us but…I shouldn't be that way. So I'm sorry."

There was a brief moment of silence before Riku took the boy's hand in his face and tilted it to look at him. "Sora, I've always wanted to be there for you--even before the baby. But after you and Kairi…"

He shook his head. "Doesn't matter anymore. I'll be here for both you and the baby. I promise you I will. No matter what. So don't worry Sora because you'll always have me. Hell, I was worried you didn't want me to be around except for only the baby's sake."

"Riku, I want to mend our friendship not destroy it anymore than it has been already," Sora announced and Riku felt his heart sink a little. A…friendship…

"I want us to get along and actually work this out so that the baby can not only be happy, but us too. We may not be together but we can still make this work right?"

Riku fought hard not to let his disappointment show--he didn't want to just be his friend _**damn it**_--before he simply nodded. "Yeah…I think we can Zo."

Sora stared at him a moment longer before smiling sheepishly. "I'm acting like a girl now, aren't I?"

"…I wasn't going to say anything," Riku snickered and Sora rolled his eyes. "Think it's cause I'm pregnant?"

"Sora, you acted like a girl before we you ever got--"

"I _**told**_ you he said he was _pregnant_!" they heard Axel scream triumphantly from right outside the door, followed by something that sounded like a insult, a curse word, and a loud bang as something--or someone--hit the door hard.

Sora stared at the door blankly and Riku narrowed his eyes at it, unamused. "So I guess we won't have to worry about telling them," he snapped in a bored tone and Sora's grin widened. "Well look on the bright side: live in babysitters!"

"Did you get any meds while you were being tested?" Riku questioned with worry and Sora stared at him confused. "No, why?"

"I figured you must be to think you could leave _any_ baby with Axel," Riku announced matter of factly and there was a resounding _**"Hey!" **_from the other side of the door before they heard another loud bam, laughter, and "_Damn it _Roxas! That shit _isn't _funny! Knock it _**off**_!"

* * *

'_I can't believe this,' _Cloud thought miserably as he stood two feet away from his front door, unmoving. 

He was alone--or at least, he _was_ until he came here. Leon decided he didn't want to cook and went out to them Chinese while Ri decided she'd just go spend the rest of the day with Reno. It's been a long day, what with his little brother being pregnant and having to gawk and wonder at his phone as his mother squealed in excitement when he called, already offering to send the baby everything it would need.

As Cloud opted to just go home and wait for Leon to return with the food.

But when he'd gotten there…he'd nearly fallen off his motorcycle.

What was he doing here? Why the hell was he even here! And why the hell was his heart fluttering like he was actually nervous? Or maybe…anxious?

"Strife," the tall beauty spoke in a soft, cold demeanor, a hint of a smile touching each corner of his lips as his Mako green eyes seemed to burn a hole through him.

_'Damn him for looking so good,'_ Cloud thought absently as he took a step or two toward him and his front door, ocean blue eyes trained on his former lover's body, trying hard not to think of any fleeting, perverse thoughts that nagged the back of his mind.

And my, did he ever look like the beautiful angel he once knew him to be.

Still so tall and lean, but muscular, imposing. His hair actually seemed to be a bit longer than before and his bangs were ridiculously so (well not by much). He wore tight leather black pants and shiny black boots that reached his calf. His chest was bare though he wore a long trench coat that reached to his ankles.

Skin so pale that it almost looked delicate…fragile, making his dark eye lashes and emerald green orbs stand out beautifully along with his pale rose thin lips.

'_**He came back to you,' **_a small voice cried with excitement in his mind and Cloud tried to ignore it. **_'He's finally returned to you Cloud--hey! Stop being a stubborn bastard and get excited with me!'_**

His inner voice was annoying and pushy.

Cloud scowled instantly when he finally snapped out of his trance, his bright azure eyes narrowing. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Sephiroth simply humped in amusement. "Why do you believe I've come here Strife? What other reason would I have."

'_**That voice…so still so smexy…'**_

"Then you've wasted your time," Cloud snapped, shifting his weight to his left side as he ignored that stupid inner voice that wanted nothing more than to pounce. "I told you once you left that we were done."

"One-sided agreements are not valid Strife, you know that," Sephiroth replied in his casual cold tone and Cloud glared at him. "You made your choice when you left Sephiroth, so it wasn't 'one-sided'."

"A childish ultimatum does not define a lifetime of companionship," Sephiroth spoke as he slowly descended down the short steps of the porch and approached the blond.

"It does when it's apparent that you don't give a damn about what I wanted or felt," Cloud snapped, refusing to back down in the argument.

"Childishness."

"I've moved on, so whatever it is, it doesn't matter," Cloud insisted, a smug smirk on his face as he felt his inner voice snicker at him.

'_**You're such a horrible liar.' **_

"What we had was in that past."

"Your selfish plea for me to stay behind defines, nothing. Your stubborn immaturity allows you to have a replacement for my absence but nothing more. And I will never be a part of your past when you are the one that refuses to leave me there," Sephiroth retorted in a bored, unimpressed fashion as he finally came to a stop an inch away from him, looking down at him with an unreadable expression.

'_**Oooh, he's good. Or your very predictable…' **_

'Shut up!' Cloud snapped mentally in annoyance as he continued to stare down his ex lover, who after another moment of staring, simply looked at him amused. "Are you ready to stop this childishness yet Strife? I refuse to waist my time further on it even if you are not, so I'm simply allowing you the option of being a 'big boy'."

"Don't talk to me like I'm your damn child, you selfish bastard," Cloud snapped and Sephiroth's smirk widened so much so that it would unnerve most men--but then Cloud was, as always, too stubborn for such things. "I will treat you in the matter that you act Strife. Nothing more, nothing less."

Cloud could feel his blood boil as he tried to tear himself away from the taller male, grumbling vulgar insults under his breath . Stupid bastard.

"Are you done?" Sephiroth asked matter of factly and Cloud looked up at him so he could scream about how oh so much he hated him but all of this was ceased by a pair of soft lips that devoured his own hungrily.

He froze for a moment before he tried in vain to pull away from him in a half hearted attempt, his anger decreasing the longer they their lips stayed locked until finally, he simply gave in, resting his hands on older male's bare chest, feeling the smooth skin beneath his touch.

He allowed Sephiroth to plunder his mouth as he wished, relishing in the feelings and memories the action brought to him, almost as if buried by time and petty hatred.

The way the man gently bit him in their kiss that induced soft purrs of pleasure, the way he made him melt against him by simply caressing the sides of his waist with the tips of his fingers or the way his tongue caressed and fought with his own for dominance: he could remember all of this…the feeling of pure bliss entering his being as he experienced what he'd thought what he'd known…he'd lost when the man left him.

His smell. Their soft breathing. Their hearts beating in unison.

He missed this--all of this. Wanted this. Needed this.

He needed Sephiroth…and he knew that he always would.

But he hated it, all the same.

* * *

"…Did you hear me?"

"Hmm?" he said softly, turning his attention away from the window and out of his thoughts, his stormy gray eyes staring at the young man sitting across from him, who was scowling slightly, his arms crossed over his chest as his deep blue eyes stared at him in an irate fashion.

"You weren't," he confirmed and his companion simply looked down at his cup of coffee. "Sorry. Just…thinking."

"About us," the other man noted, his face remaining irate but just one glance into his eyes was enough to betray him, giving away his slight anxiousness. His fear.

"In a sense, yes." he admitted and the other male looked out of the window himself. "I see."

"Don't start, it's nothing like that," he announced and the young man sitting across from his glared at him in skepticism. "Then what is it then?"

"Guilt," he admitted and the other nodded in compliance. "Because you can't stop coming back to me…or because you _won't _stop coming back to me."

"Both," the man admitted with a sigh, taking an absent sip of his coffee and frowning.

It was cold.

"I can't stop coming back to you…nor do I want to…not even for him."

The younger of the pair looked pleased with his answer but glared at him with a curious suspicion. "Then why ever leave me in the first place."

"Complicated," he stated gravely and the other simply sighed, rolling his eyes a little before both stared out of the window.

"Where does he think you went."

"To get Chinese food."

"Don't you care that he might…find out?"

He looked over, not surprised to see a stone cold expression on his beautiful face, his stormy eyes staring directly at him, almost as if he were trying to see through him and into his soul.

It was slightly unnerving…he could be so intense.

"No I don't…and _that's_ what bothers me."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**  
_I was going to actually do the whole Seph/Cloud thing in an entirely different fashion but I got such an evilly delicious idea that I'm deciding to go with it instead. I won't say much else on the matter except you'll have to wait and see. Not to many hints for the next chapter except I'll introduce Reno (I hope) and we'll hear from Kairi. Everything else is a bit of secret. ::snickers evilly::  
Until then however please, as always: Happy Reading! And thanks so much for reading the story thus far, it makes me dance::dances::_


	7. Chapter Six: Confusion of the Heart

**Author's Notes:  
**_This chapter was originally a lot shorter than it is now and still is shorter than I originally intended but I decided it would be better to save the rest for the next chapter instead of dragging this one out if I didn't need to. In any case, please enjoy!_

_**When Distant Hearts Beat as One**_  
**Chapter Six: **_Confusion of the Heart _

"So what, you guys are gonna keep the kid?" Axel asked curiously as he, Roxas, and now Demyx all looked curiously at Sora's stomach, the small framed brunette still sitting right next to Riku with his head laying on his shoulder, both watching the three with mild humor.

Demyx gently touched Sora's stomach, rubbing it lightly with his index finger and Sora snorted softly--he'd always been ticklish--before the blond poked it again and recoiled his hand slowly, still staring at the stomach as if it were a alien.

"We've decided to keep the baby, yeah," Riku announced and at once, the trio looked up at him as if he were crazy.

"How are you gonna explain this to everybody?" Roxas asked.

"When the hell did you trick yourself into believing you could raise _anything_?" Axel snorted.

"Um…don't you have a girlfriend?" insisted Demyx, staring directly at Sora.

"We really don't care to explain anything to everyone since it's none of their business," Riku replied coolly, rolling his eyes slightly at the thought. "And Axel, stop comparing my skills to yours, _**I**_ can actually take care of stuff!"

"The hell you--remember that _cat_?" Axel snapped and Riku looked dumbfounded. "_What _cat?"

"Exactly," the red head smirked smugly, crossing his arms over his chest and Sora immediately looked at Riku, who seemed to be in heavy thought and staring at his feet in bewilderment before the brunette looked back up at Axel with wide eyes of alarm. "What cat?!"

"After you lot ditched him, Riku got the trademark 'lonely man cat'," Axel replied casually, his smirk widening while Sora looked away with guilt at the beginning part of his explanation. "I'd say three months into having it--and this includes nearly crushing it by rolling over on it while sleeping and nearly flushing the thing down the toilet, don't ask--the thing just disappeared and Riku just acted like the thing didn't--"

"Oh I remember now!" Riku announced loudly, cutting into Axel's explanation and causing the group to look at him. "After I tried giving the flea rat a bath, it jumped through my bedroom window and fell in the bush. I just…never saw a reason to go after it."

There was a moment of silence before Sora finally spoke. "You weren't trying to drown the poor thing Riku…were you?"

"Nah, I was just trying to give it a flea bath, that's all," Riku insisted and Axel snorted. "He filled up the bath tub and just dumped 'the poor thing' in there. Of _course_ it thought he was finally trying to drown it. And the way he hit the bush wasn't too pleasant either."

"Well no one told me you don't put cats in tubs filled with water, I thought those things could swim! And is it my fault it cleared the window and jumped into the bush?" Riku snapped and the group was silent again, simply staring at him before once again, Sora spoke. "Riku? You won't do stuff like that to…the _baby_…will you?"

Riku glared at Sora who refused to back down, glaring at him in concern and stern determination before Riku narrowed his eyes at him in a fashion that screamed 'Are you serious?' before sighing and shaking his head and replying sarcastically. "No Sora, I'm not gonna roll over on the baby. Or flush it down _toilets_. Or give it _**baths**_…"

Sora glared at him before announcing firmly. "You just look at the baby Ku. Don't touch it. Don't even make faces at it--no interacting what so ever. Actually, don't even look at the baby if you can help it, just you know, stand there in the room so it will know your there."

"…That's cold Sora," Riku replied in a soft, toneless voice and the brunette only put his nose in the air. "That's what you get for drowning kittens."

"I _didn't_ try to drown a kitten, it was a _cat_!" Riku snapped and Sora glared at him and he quickly added. "And I was giving it a _bath_!"

"See? You want someone like that raising your kid?" Axel snorted and Riku glared at the red head. "Axel, both Roxas' goldfish _and_ Demyx's hamster--"

"Hammy," Demyx muttered in a soft, sad tone, looking out the window.

"--has died in your care, so you have no room to talk!"

"Hey! I told you people I don't care for animals," Axel snapped. "Anything that happened after that was the owner's fault for trusting me with them!"

"I don't even want to know," Sora muttered and Riku nodded. "See? Never babysitting our kid."

"Wasn't offering to," Axel announced with a shrug before pulling out a pack of cigarettes and pulling one out before Roxas slapped the entire thing out of his hand, glaring. "You can't smoke around Sora you idiot! Go outside!"

"Outsi--this is _**my**_ house, I smoke where I want!" Axel snapped and Sora held his stomach protectively, pouting a little while the other three young men glared at Axel as if they might remove him by force, making the red head roll his eyes and snatching up his cigarettes and with a roll of his eyes, stormed out of the room.

"No one answered my question," Demyx announced as they continued to watch him leave the room before looking back at Sora. "What about your girlfriend?"

"Yeah, what _about _the stuck up bitch?" Axel asked with a mischievous excitement, sticking his head back into the room, the unlit cigarette dangling in the corner of his mouth.

Sora scowled at him before he closed his eyes and sighed, shrugging a little. "I don't know to be honest. I'll tell her eventually but--"

"Wait, you have no intention of telling her what going on right now?" Demyx asked in concern and Sora shook his head while Riku spoke up, rubbing small circles in his back. "He's not ready to do that yet…doesn't want to deal with Kairi flipping out on him."

"Hell, she'll do it regardless so why not just get it the hell out of the way?" Axel asked dully and it was actually Roxas that answered. "Because we all know how Kairi flips out Ax. It's dangerous to stress any pregnant woma--person out, but more so in the early stages. And since Sora is like, the only guy in existence--or that we know anyway--that is pregnant, it might be worse for him. He's already so emotional."

There was a pause and Axel arched his brow. "You sure know a hell of a lot about babies."

Roxas hunched. "I read stuff."

"And Roxas, I am not emotional," Sora snapped irate as if what he'd said just dawned on him and this made the blond look back at Axel who only smirked and shook his head while mouthing 'denial'. "I just don't want to deal with her screaming at Riku…and hating me…and slapping me--I mean really, would any of you want to deal with that under _any_ circumstance?"

"For me to answer that, I'd have to agree to want to deal with that bi--Kairi in the first place and since we all know how I feel about that, I guess that rules me out, sorry," Axel announced grandly, waving his hand about and finally disappearing down the hall. Roxas rolled his eyes while Demyx gave the brunette a sympathetic smile. "I understand Sora. Tell her when your ready…but know that eventually, you will have to say something: your stomach will be a dead give away in a few months. But don't worry: if you need any support, I'll be here for you along with Riku." Then he winked. "And I'm a wonderful chef, so any cravings you have, I can cater to your needs."

"I'll help too," Roxas announced, smiling a bit but looking unsure. "I mean…I'm pretty good at like, stuff so I can help do something."

"I can teach it to beat the shit out of stuff!" they heard Axel yell from somewhere in the house, making the lot look around. "After you spit it out and it grows and crap. Just as long as I'm not responsible for it or anything!"

Silence.

"…He's not coming near our baby," Riku and Sora muttered softly, in unison.

"Oh fuck that and fuck you! I'll do what I want, when I want, with whomever's _baby I want_!" Axel screamed loudly and Roxas just sighed while Demyx slowly shook his head before without warning, Axel screamed the following: "Hey! If Sora doesn't have a vagina, where the _hell_ is the baby gonna come out _anyway_? His _ass_?!"

Riku opened his mouth to retort but Sora cut him off but muttering a soft "Good question.", causing the former to simply stare at him blankly and wonder just exactly what he'd really gotten himself into.

Though he had to admit: it **was **a good question…

* * *

"_Don't you care that me might find out?"_

"_No. I don't. And that's what bother's me."_

And it still was.

Leon walked a slow, deliberate walk back to the home he shared with his current boyfriend Cloud, hands in pocket and absent of any sort of oriental cuisine.

He didn't understand why he felt the way he did: there really wasn't a reason to. Cloud, when they'd met, had been lively and bright, though, admittedly amusing and slightly annoying at the time, ranted on and on about his bastard of an ex that'd abandoned him.

He'd, in a sense, melted Leon's rather cold demeanor and heart so to speak and had been able to tear down every wall and shield he'd placed for himself with little to no trouble with a simple smile or peck to his lips in only a couple of months.

He was one of the few people that the brunette found easy to talk to, always willing to listen to any problem he had and offer--admittedly sometimes questionable--advice. They had no qualms living together, never really fought (which Leon admitted he thought was a bit odd) about anything, and had one of the best sex lives he'd ever had.

The blond, as Yuffie had referred to him once, seemed to be his soul mate and made him happy. Completed him.

So why the hell did he keep coming back to **him**?

What was it about **him** that he just couldn't shake…that he just couldn't seem to live without and jeopardize having a relationship with Cloud for? And why the hell did he just not care if the entire thing _did _go to hell in a hand basket and blew up in his face?

It's not like **he** was bad looking--he never thought **he** was. But what they'd gone through--what **he'd **put him through--the mind games, the lying and cheating, the scar he now bore on his face because of what **he** did. But **he'd** changed over the years--matured--and **he** said **he **needed him.

That **he** couldn't actually live without him. That he infact, was **his** soul mate--and one **he'd **wanted for the past few months all to **himself**.

And maybe, that was exactly what Leon wanted…but then why did he continue to cling to Cloud as if the blond was his lifeline? Almost as if he was saving him from. . .

"Leo?"

He mentally sighed and pausing in his steps, turned to see a beautiful red head staring at him with worry, her hands clasped together behind her back.

"Hey...um, I'm really sorry to bother you but I can't seem to get anyone to answer the house phone and Sora is down right refusing to answer his cell," Kairi announced gravely. "I just want to make sure he's okay."

This only made Leon narrow his eyes at her in anger--while Sora, with his upbeat attitude and gentle heart had made up with Kairi after her discretions, the brunette had yet to be so forgiving. If it hadn't been for her, Sora wouldn't be wrapped up in the mess he was in now.

"He's fine and with friends," he snapped coldly, turning away from her and continuing to walk.

"But I was with Selphie and everyone and none of them has seen him," Kairi insisted. "And he won't answer his phone so--"

"Maybe he just doesn't want to bother with you today, did you ever think of that?" he snapped, cutting her off and the girl said nothing more, not that Leon cared nor did he turn around to see her staring at him in disbelief and hurt.

He'd never really liked her that much--he'd never liked bossy women and Kairi seemed to annoy him more than most. Not so much as Yuffie and her antics, but she was annoying all the same.

"Yo! Squall!"

Oh yes. And then there was Reno.

"It's Leon moron," Ri warned as the pair jogged across the street to catch up with him, neither noticing Kairi's existence a few feet away either.

"I know," he heard Reno reply amused. "I just like calling him that."

"And when he beats the shit out of you, I'm sure I'll like _that_ too," she teased and without warning, she leapt up and jumped on Leon's back, making him grunt as he tumbled forward but caught his balance, scowling at the wide toothy grin on Ri's face. "Why the hell do you insist on doing that?"

"Come on Leo, everyone has a 'thing'. Aerith pecks you on the cheek Zack and Cid do the handshake. . .thing. Yuffie tries to tackle you with her hug and I simply try killing you while jumping on your back and letting you bask in the glory that is Rikku. And it all comes full circle."

"Get off me," Leon snapped, unamused and arching his back outward and bucking a bit, she jumped down, making a face at him that he ignored as he began to walk again.

"Where's the food?" Reno questioned.

"What food." Leon asked in a toneless, cold tone.

"Did you tell us you were getting Chinese?" Reno asked, looking instantly deflated and Leon scowled at him. "I never said I was getting you anything, freeloader."

"You never specified who you were getting food for, just that you _were_," Reno replied matter of factly, returning the glare before flicking a wild strand of fiery red hair out of his eye just as Ri leaned over and ruffled it up, making him groan and glare at her. "Watch the sunglass."

"Because we know your such a loser without them," she replied sarcastically and he flicked his tongue at her in a suggestive way. "Don't think I won't punish you in front of grandpa here."

"Do you two not have anyone else to annoying and irate?" Leon snapped loudly and both simply stared at him. "We're going to the same place, why not go together?" Ri asked matter of factly and Leon rolled his eyes and sped up.

"Because some of us want peace," he grumbled, breaking into a light jog when he realized the pair sped up as well.

Really now…this was just…sad.

* * *

"How curious."

"That's not exactly what reaction I had but yeah…it's _something_," Cloud grumbled as he picked up the few scattered books that Leon had been reading the night before off the coffee table and placed them back in their bookcase.

The pair had finally come into the house after their…meeting on the porch and Cloud had once again reverted back into his bitter, cold husk toward his (and he was insisting) _**ex **_lover, trying as he might not to get near him or even look at him for too long so that he might not be 'tempted' again.

After, he had a live in boyfriend now and Leon finding him making out with any guy, let alone his ex to which he spent nearly an entire year ranting and bitching about to the understandable brunette, would not be a _good_ thing.

He placed another book in place and instantly became annoyed as he saw Sephiroth putting the books back in their proper, alphabetical places right behind him.

'_Annoying, orderly bastard that mocks me with his efficiency.' _he thought grumpily to himself and that inner voice of his snickered.

…_**Now you're just ranting to rant.**_

'_Maybe. But shut up anyway,' _he thought miserably before continuing on his conversation with the platinum blond. "Sora freaked a little but I think he's good now. He's with your brother, doing whatever."

Sephiroth smirked in ridicule. "Interesting, how certain aspects of life seem to work themselves out, isn't Strife."

"Depends on the aspect," Cloud snapped, slamming the final book back in place rather loudly before glaring at Sephiroth as his fingers grazed the spine. "Leave the damn thing alone and stop trying to change the subject. What the hell are we going to do about them?"

"We will do nothing but assist as we can," Sephiroth announced coldly, slowly taking the book out of it's spot and putting it in it's proper place, watching Cloud with unwavering, deep Mako green eyes the entire time, a hint of mirth to them watching Cloud take in a deep, forced breath as he tried not to growl openly at him. "And it is not I that is trying to change subjects Strife. We were speaking about ourselves before you abruptly began your rant about your brother's odd predicament."

"There's nothing else to fucking talk about," Cloud snapped angrily, turning away from him quickly and storming out of the room and toward the kitchen, Sephiroth simply watching him a moment before slowly following him at his leisure.

"You left, I moved on, there's nothing more to say," Cloud snapped as Sephiroth finally entered the room, making the taller male laugh in a soft, unnerving way. "We've already had such a discussion regarding such things when I arrived Strife."

"Then we really don't need to talk," the blond insisted angrily but Sephiroth only laughed softly again before appearing right before the blond, the latter not paying attention to the fact that the older man had been coming toward him that entire time, too wrapped in his own troubled thoughts and anger.

_**He really does** **smell nice, don't you agree?**_

'_Shut uuuup.' _Cloud thought bitterly as he refused to look at Sephiroth, turning his face away and looking at the counter, the microwave, _anything_but the towering beauty before him.

"Why do you continue to resist the inevitable," Sephiroth asked softly, in a curious, rhetorical manner as he placed his hand gently under Cloud's chin and forced him to look at him. "What could you possibly hope to accomplish by rebellion and stubbornness?"

_**That's it, just lean your face in a little closer--damn he really **does** smell good!**_

Cloud refused to say anything, to Sephiroth or that little asshole inner voice of his. There really wasn't much he could say…because he didn't really know what he wanted to do. He was still angry, he was still bitter, and he knew he really liked Leon and wanted to stay faithful to him.

But he also knew that he'd missed Sephiroth--_his_ Sephiroth. And he knew his feelings for the latter ran much deeper than they ever did--and probably ever would--for the stormy eyed brunette. He wanted this…he needed this.

But he was afraid.

"What Cloud," Sephiroth asked in a cold tone barley above a whisper. "What do you want. What do you truly want."

There was a long moment of silence, with ocean blue eyes simply staring into Mako green ones as Sephiroth simply waited patiently for him to answer him, no emotion riddling his face or giving any hints to what he might be thinking or feeling.

"What's going on in here."

Cloud quickly turned to the doorway, snatching his face away from Sephiroth, the latter simply looking annoyed as he slowly turned to look at the intrusion, both seeing Leon standing there with Rikku and Reno bringing up the rear, the two latter smirking and making suggestive faces at the pair behind Leon's back.

* * *

**Author's Notes**:  
_::Evil laughter ensues:: Okay, I'm caught. Just love ending chapters in cliffhangers. It's so much fun. I'm actually having a lot of fun writing this story and I could take it so many directions but I'm trying to get too off course with my original plan. I won't give any hints for the next chapter but I do thank any and everyone that's read the story so far, it really means a lot! Thank you so much everyone and as always: Happy Reading!!_

_Kamirine_


	8. Chapter Seven: Confrontations

_**Author's Notes:  
**__I know, I know, don't kill me, but I have a good reason for not updating this story in such a long time. A few actually: I'm working on quite a few stories at the moment so I've been having to divide my time between all of them lately. Not to mention that all of them took a back seat so that I could finish Sephiroth's Guide (I was so close the ending that I just concentrated on that solely.) and my job. Then I got sick recently and couldn't do much of anything, so everything got held up for a while._

_But now I'm back, on track, and ready to continue the story. You can smack me if you want ::holds out hand:: for taking so long anyway though. I deserve it. ::Looks ashamed.::_

_I really hope you enjoy the new chapter and thank you guys so much for staying the story, being so patient, and reading thus far!_

_Now: enjoy the new chapter!!_

_**When Distant Hearts Beat As One  
**_**Chapter Seven: **_Confrontations_

Leon's stormy eyes slowly looked from his guilty looking boyfriend to the tall, platinum haired man standing next to him, glaring back at him in a cold, calculating fashion.

No one was saying a word between them, and Leon could vaguely hear Cloud's sister and her boyfriend whispering in excited, hushed tones between the two of them. Leon could guess but careless about what they were talking about, as he was far too focused on his own troubling thoughts.

Why the hell was _**he **_here? And just what the hell did he stumble on upon walking through the kitchen door? He took a moment to glare further at Cloud, who once meeting his gaze, chose to look at the floor in guilt instead, making Leon's blood boil further.

The blond was never good at hiding his guilt from him and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't concerned now that he was aware that Cloud apparently did something he wasn't proud of. He returned his gaze to Sephiroth, who hadn't stopped staring at him since he'd walked through the door, and Leon let a light sneer appear on his features as he realized that the former was actually sizing him up.

Like competition--or from the smirk that was forming on his face and the light 'humph' he made under his breath, lack there of.

They all remained silent for what seemed like eternity before finally, someone actually spoke.

"It's good to erm, see you again!" Ri gushed as she rushed over and gave Sephiroth a quick hug, instantly letting go when Sephiroth made no move to return the gesture, just simply glare down at her.

She took a few tentative steps backwards, coming to stand right beside Leon before she turned to him, holding a hand out in Sephiroth's direction. "Yeah so, Leon, I believe you've heard my brother bitch about Sephiroth; ex-boyfriend who just happens to be standing a little too close for comfort to my brother for Leon apparently by the way he's looking at you Sephiroth--have you ever met Cloud's current boyfriend Leon?"

Typical. Even in a tense situation, Ri could find a way to be humorous. Though no one was amused--save maybe Reno.

"Rikku, go away," Cloud hissed angrily, giving the girl a withering look but she outright ignored him in favor of looking between the two Leon and Sephiroth, whom continued to stare one another down.

"What is he doing here, Cloud." Leon stated finally, his tone strained as he tried to keep his anger in check. Sephiroth merely arched his brow, his cold, calculating expression never wavering as that same smirk once again returned to his features replying before the blond could. "I find the better question you should be asking is how long Cloud intends on keeping _**you**_ here upon _**my**_ return."

It wasn't hard to miss the inferno of rage that coursed through Leon's stormy eyes as he flared up and began to reply but Cloud was quick to step between the two, focused on Leon, and cut him off with his own explanation. "He just came home from ShinRa--he was a S.O.L.I.D.E.R--"

"General of S.O.L.D.I.E.R., Cloud," Sephiroth corrected him, making Cloud turn his attention to him with a withering, angry glare before the blond added "who was just getting the hell out of my house."

"For now, if you so insist," the platinum blond announced, keeping his eyes focused on Leon a moment longer before staring at Cloud in a predatory like fashion, a twinkle of something Cloud couldn't place emitting from his Mako green eyes.

Leon's breath caught as a rather smug smirk formed on the taller beauty's face before he brought his lips, slowly, deliberately, down on Cloud's, lingering there for a moment, Leon taking a step forward but pausing when he felt both Reno and Ri's hand on either shoulder, Reno whispering for him to just stay calm, that he was trying to get a rise out of him.

Meanwhile, the blond could feel an electric bolt course though his body as he fought the urge not to melt at the familiar feeling of those perfect, rose colored lips on his--those delectable, deliciously soft lips that he'd craved and deeply missed on his-- before they were slowly pulled away from him, leaving a feeling of emptiness within his being he'd only felt when the devious man had left him for ShinRa years ago.

Sephiroth slowly brought his lips to his ear then, his eyes trained on Leon as Cloud shivered lightly at the feeling of his warm breath blowing lightly on his lobe before he finally spoke softly, loud enough only for the blond to hear. "I _will_ return for you Cloud. And next time, I won't let your silly little delusions of a current lover or denials of what you truly desire free you from the inevitable."

Cloud's mouth opened slightly at his words as they sank in, blinking only once Sephiroth pivoted, stilling glaring at Leon though it had changed into a simple, challenging glare before without another word, he simply left the room, Ri and Reno both quickly parting to let him through.

Leon simply glared at Cloud as the room remained quiet, a moment later hearing the front door slam shut, before the brunette, anger starting to get the better of him, simply closed his eyes, took a deep, calming breath that wasn't helping and too, stormed out of the room, toward their bedroom.

The trio left watched his retreating back before Ri gave her brother a sympathetic smile. "Hey…uh…Reno and are gonna head for his house…so you guys can--"

"Right, right, just go Ri, I'll call," Cloud sighed, heading out of the room and after his lover, the pair waiting for the inevitable door slam of the bedroom door before glancing at each other, Reno smirking and letting out a long whistle before the pair quickly started for the front door--intent on getting outside before all the screaming and yelling began.

* * *

Sora walked slowly along the beach, letting his bare feet sink slightly into the cool sand with each step he took.

There were far too many things on his mind and he simply, didn't feel like going home, listening his sister teasing or his brother and Leon's conversations of what needed to be done about his condition--or help him if his mother called to smother him from miles away, about decorating rooms and buying cribs…

Sora's ocean blue eyes looked up at the setting sun that had almost reached the horizon of the water, casting a beautiful orange hue against the beach.

Riku had done an excellent job putting a lot of his worries to rest: it felt good knowing that Riku had as much clue about taking care of children as he did but was more than open to the experience. He promised that they would go through the ordeal together and while Sora was absolutely grateful that Riku wanted nothing more than to help him with the baby, he had to wonder why the teen was just so…_willing_.

Not that he wanted Riku to completely abandon the baby and leave him to do it alone but even he, who had a tendency, according to his friends, to be completely oblivious to things to the point of naivety, noticed that Riku seemed almost--jubilant at the idea of raising a baby of all things…with him.

They hadn't been the best of friends for a few years, though recently they were doing a good job if he could say so himself, on mending the relationship. Maybe Riku simply saw it as a chance to show that he really wanted things--as much as they could be--back to the way they were: when they were best friends, always hanging out and being together. Maybe the baby was a way to do that again or at least, get back on the track of doing so.

And Sora would be lying if he said he wasn't looking forward to the prospect and even excited at the idea himself: he'd definitely missed having Riku as a friend and he hadn't realized just how much until the pair had been spending time together recently--and he couldn't be around him.

And while having a baby was a bit on the extreme side to say the least, it was a great way for the pair to bond again and become close, if not closer, than they had before.

And while the idea made Sora more than a little happy, there was just one, tiny snag that he knew would be a problem sooner, though hopefully, later.

"_There_ you are!"

Who was it that said you called trouble when you thought about it? The brunette froze in his walking, simply waiting as he heard panting getting close--Kairi must be running to get to him--trying to keep himself as calm as he possibly could.

There was no way he could tell Kairi about the baby--he knew the girl was going to get angry once he admitted where he was all day _**if**_ he chose to do _that_--but to tell the girl that he was expecting to have a child for a person in which he knew she despised?

"Sora, I've been so _worried_," she announced in a big sigh of relief as she tackle-hugged him from behind, Sora's eyes widening in panic as he stumbled forward to keep his balance, quickly squirming out of the girl's embrace, forcefully prying the girl's arms from around his stomach, concerned that the way she'd hugged him may be doing damage to his precious cargo.

He faced Kairi then, reflexively angry that she could have harmed the child before, upon seeing her own alarmed and worried expression, he remembered she always hugged him like that from behind and that the girl currently had no _knowledge_ of his current state--so of course she wouldn't know it was a bad thing to do--he relaxed and gave her a large, sheepish, apologetic grin, the girl placing her hands on her hips and glaring at him.

"Not so happy to see me, huh?" she snapped and Sora placed a hand behind his head, scratching the back of it as the fleeting admittance of _'No, actually...' _flew through his mind before he spoke. "Come on Kai, I haven't seen you all day! Course I'm happy to see you--and sorry about just now, you just kinda spooked me."

"Spooked you _how_?" she questioned in disapproval. "I always do that and I called out to you _before_ I came up!"

"I was kinda in my own little world a minute ago," he laughed quickly. "I heard my name and just stopped, I really didn't recognize who was calling me…kinda in and out, you know?"

She stared at him a moment longer, looking very unconvinced and making the brunette squirm a little as he gave her a reassuring grin, finally lowering his arm to his side before she crossed her arms over her chest and let that subject matter go--for now. Thankfully.

"Well…where have you been all day?" she questioned, sound a little less snippy and far more concerned. "The guys haven't seen or heard from you all day and when I asked Leon, he refused to tell me. Is there something wrong I should know about?"

"Not really," Sora replied, his mind scrambling for an excuse to give her now that he knew Tidus and Wakka were no longer available and Leon had unintentionally or not, cast suspicion on his whereabouts. Finally coming to the conclusion the truth was best, he sighed and finished. "I was just hanging out with Riku today."

Kairi's expression instantly hardened and he saw that unmistakable flare of anger in her eyes before he quickly added, "For old times sake Kai!"

"And just," she began in a cold, snaky tone. "how many times are you two going to hang out for 'old times sake' Sora?! Why do you insist on hanging around someone that is so bad for you! Just _look_ at the people he--"

"Kairi, you haven't been hanging around Riku or his friends, you don't know _**what**_ they do on their free time or how 'bad' they are!" Sora cried defensively. "And I can hang out with him when I want! Just because you don't like him--"

"And you know why I don't like him Sora!" she snapped angrily and Sora replied. "No, Kairi, I _**don't**_! You never told me what happened between you and Riku so how am I suppose to understand why you don't like him?"

"We had a bad breakup Sora, what's not to understand?" she snapped and he countered. "You never told me exactly what happened Kairi and you know that!"

"Even still, it's obvious how much Riku changed and what he's like now!" Kairi insisted and Sora gave her a unconvinced look of his own. "I reiterate: you _haven't_ been around Riku to know _what_ he's like now Kairi. He hasn't _'changed' _at all! Maybe the company he keeps is different but Riku himself hasn't changed! You act like he's a skipping school to do or sell drugs, drink and party all the time, the way you talk about him!"

"Well Selphie saw--"

"I don't care what anyone saw Kairi! The way I feel about someone isn't influenced on anyone else's gossip, let alone _**Selphie's**_!" Sora finally snapped and Kairi gave him a suspicious look.

Selphie was his friend, more so Kairi's then his, but to be quite frank, she wasn't he reliable source when it came to information, as she always had the gossip on 'he said, she said'.

Kairi continued to glare at him, seeming to be in thought, before she finally spoke again. "And just how _do you _feel about Riku, Sora?"

There was a moments pause, Sora glaring at her in confusion before it dawned on him what she was insinuating, making him flare up in anger. "Kairi, I can't _**believe**_ you! Just because I want to be friends again with someone who's been my best friends since we were, like, _kids_?!"

"Well you're going out of your way to spend time with him now Sora, including avoiding me and telling people not to let me know your with him!" Kairi accused sarcastically. "It's something to think about under these circumstances…"

"Kairi, if Leon or Cloud or whomever didn't want to tell you where I was, that's because _**they**_ didn't want to, not because _**I**_ told them not to," he snapped, his fist balling up at his sides. "And just because I'm choosing to put aside _**your**_ differences with Riku so we can be friends again and hang out doesn't mean I'm cheating on you for him! How _stupid _do you _**sound**_--you don't even _know_ if Riku is--and obviously I'm straight since I'm with _**you**_!"

"See! That's exactly why I don't want you hanging out with Riku Sora," she snapped angrily, but began to have that triumphant smirk she always possessed when she thought he'd been had and that she was about to prove a point and win the argument. "We were a lot happier when he _wasn't_ in our lives! Now _all_ we do is argue!"

"The reason why we argue is because _you _want to control who the hell I decide to be friends with!" Sora snapped and Kairi shook her head. " And now your cussing."

"Hell isn't a--"

"I'm not trying to control you Sora, I'm just looking out for your best interest!" she exclaimed, cutting him off. "Don't get angry at me because I'm trying to save you from making such a huge mistake by letting Riku back in your life!"

"No, Kairi, the mistake I made was letting Riku _**out**_ of life because the two of you can't get along!" Sora screamed in fury, causing the girl to recoil a bit. He rarely got angry but when he did, even Kairi knew better than to push--though it was a little late now. "Trying to influence my decisions and try to force me to be friends with people of _your_ choice and who _you _like isn't looking out for me, it's _**controlling**_ me!"

"Sora--!"

"Look, I'm sorry that you hate Riku and vise versa but I'm determined to mend the relationship _**I**_ lost with him! We were friends Kai, best friends--all three of us--and if we can't have that again, then…I guess that's fine too!

"But I'm not just going to continue to cut Riku out of my life for your benefit! Just like I remained friends with Selphie when she and Tidus had their big falling out before dating, I'm doing the same, here and now! And nothing you can do or say is going to change my mind! And if you can't handle that Kairi, then we're going to have _**serious **_drawbacks to our relationship because I _**won't**_ back down!"

Sora finished with a deep intake a breath, trying to calm himself down quickly, remembering finally that he probably shouldn't be getting himself so upset in his condition, the pair watching one another in silence, Kairi glaring at him in disapproval and anger while Sora returned the glare.

The sun had nearly sank beneath the ocean now, just the very top of the orange orb visible now as dusk set in completely, shades of purple and light blue beginning to stain the sky in preparation for night.

Finally, the red head spoke, in a flat, dead tone. "Fine."

Sora said nothing, only glared. "Fine Sora. If you just _**have**_ to spend all your time with Riku," Kairi snapped, now hugging herself and glaring at the sand bitterly. "Then fine. Go right ahead. Disregard my feelings and do what you want."

Sora sighed, rolling his eyes slightly and taking a few steps forward, engulfed the girl in a hug that she did not return. She simply continued to hug herself. "Kai, don't be that way. I'm not going to spend all my time with Riku, just like you don't with Selphie and your own personal friends. All I'm asking is that you give me the chance to be friends with Riku without you trying to pull an exorcist on me every time."

Silence.

"I won't bring Riku around you. I'll try not to even talk about him around you Kai. But I'm going to be friends with him Kai," Sora spoke, putting inference on his last words. It took a moment, but the red head finally looked up at Sora, a pouty expression on her face as she finally wrapped her arms around Sora's upper chest, and laid her head on his shoulder.

"I'm never going to like him--again--Sora. And I hate the idea of you guys hanging out together again but…if it makes you happy and your so instant…as long as you don't abandon me for him or anything or pick up any of his nasty habits--"

"_Kairi_…"

"That he may or may not have but I think he does…then I guess…I'm okay with it Zo-Zo," Kairi said finally, before stomping her foot, burying it a small ways in the sand and glaring up at him. "You've been with him all day and you didn't call!"

Sora snorted softly and hugged her close again, relief washing over him that she wasn't so angry anymore and that he could now openly hang out with Riku without her questioning it.

"I missed you," she playfully sniffled, stomping her foot again and Sora pulled away from her gently--or tried…but she latched on and hugged him closer, giving a whiney pouty nose that made him outright laugh.

"Then I'll just have to make it up to you, won't I Kai," Sora announced in a mock, sympathetic tone and she looked up at him with overly wide eyes and hopeful 'o' on her lips. Sora laughed at the expression and pulling away, began to guide her toward the dock. "Let's go to my place--we'll get a blanket and I'll fix a basket of your favorite stuff. Then we'll come back to the beach for a--"

"Moonlight picnic! Oh Sora, how _romantic_!" Kairi gushed, hugging him excitedly, but thankfully, not around the stomach (probably afraid of a similar reaction now from when she'd arrived) before pecking him on the cheek and letting out a small squeal of happiness.

The sound made Sora smile outwardly but in his mind, he couldn't help but feel anxiety. Not that he minded spending time with Kairi--she was his girlfriend after all--but he was certain that while she'd given up--for now--about him hanging out with Riku, the subject was doomed to get ugly once she found the actual reason the pair would be spending so much time together.

And their previous encounter on the beach moments before told him all he needed to know: that there was no way in hell he would tell her he was pregnant any time soon.

* * *

_**Author's Notes:**_  
_Another chapter finished::hugs Sora:: I've been sitting on that for a while, but I wasn't sure just how much I wanted to put in it, so I'm saving a lot (like Cloud and Leon's arguement) for the next chapter._

_I'd like to thank you all for reading the new chapter and again, sorry I'm so late with the update, but I hope to update more regularly now. (I'm working on quite a few stories now so I'm trying to manage which days to update and work on each of them, LMAO.) _

_The next chapter with contain much angst and SLASH, just to warn you!_

_Until then though:_

_Happy Reading!!_


	9. Chapter Eight: Undisclosed Feelings

_**Author's Notes:  
**__Yes, yes, I know. It's been FAR too long since I updated this story and I'm really sorry. Had a lot going on in my life and I had to take a serious time out from something and unfortunately, my writing was it._

_I have more AN's at the bottom of this chapter so I won't bore you with my babbling. But I will once again say that I am deeply sorry for the long wait and delay. Please put away your pitch forks and torches. :begs: Pretty please? :begs:_

_This chapter is pretty long so please get a drink and snack if need be. Go have a potty break too. Here, I'll even provide cookies…because again, I don't want to get stoned for this taking to long and if cookies and help, I'll more then willing to give them. _

_So um…eat up! The virtual cookies._

_Oh yes:_

_And HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE! I hope you have a wonderful holiday and Happy New Year! :huggles:_

_**When Distant Hearts Beat as One**_**  
Chapter Eight: **_Undisclosed Feelings  
_

"So what are we going to name it," Sora asked thoughtfully, looking up at Riku, who was staring back down at him thoughtfully.

They were sitting in Riku's bedroom, the curtains drawn to a close. The lowering sun's rays cast an almost pinkish orange glow into the area since his bedroom faced the direction it was in. They were laying on the bed, Riku sitting against the backboard on a few pillows while Sora laid down next to him, his head resting on his chest while the former scratched it.

It was one of the 'habits' he'd gotten used to being pregnant other than throwing up: scratching his head made him feel comfortable. But then, so did a lot of Sea-Salt ice cream. And Demyx, Roxas, and Axel had gone out of their way to ensure that he had plenty of that to eat.

"Dunno. Maybe we should just form our names together and make one huge mess of it," he muttered softly, seeming to already be in heavy though of that. "But then again Sora, we don't know what it will be yet."

"It's a girl," Sora stated matter of factly and Riku arched his brow, making the brunette smile a little. "I mean…I dunno, I just feel like it's going to be a girl. A cute little girl. With your hair but my hair color. And your eyes."

"…And your smile," Riku added and Sora gave him a confused look. He only smirked at Sora. "You've always had a great smile Sora. You're the only other person I know that can make my brother at least grimace with something other than disdain other than your brother. It's special." The brunette couldn't help the smile that crept on to his face and Riku laughed. "See? It's perfect. I could get lost in that smile of yours."

Now he was blushing. Riku had gotten into a nasty habit of getting him to do that lately.

'_Stupid platinum blonds and their compliments.'_

"How is your brother doing anyway?" Sora asked and Riku's smile faded a bit but not much. "Honestly, other than this entire mess with your brother, I'd say he's all right, for him," he confused and Sora nodded.

Three months hadn't made that situation any better, if Sora was to be honest. Cloud seemed to have warmed up to Sephiroth--but only because of his and Riku's predicament. Sephiroth did come around more often it was more than obvious it bothered Leon.

Sora's thought of the last argument the pair had about said tall platinum blond, remembering how Cloud finally threw his hands in the air and shouting at Leon, went up to their room while the brunette followed him. He was just coming out of room and going down to the kitchen to get some strawberry ice cream at the time so he wasn't exactly sure what everything was about, but it had something to with how Cloud wasn't going to ask Sephiroth to stay out of the affairs of the new coming baby considering he was Riku's older brother. That he had every right to be concerned and worry about him and if he wanted to discuss matters about the situation and could set all their personal drama aside, then so could he.

Leon had said that it wasn't what Sephiroth actually wanted--how he was using it as a ploy to get Cloud back but his brother was having none of it and told Leon to stop being paranoid. That he cared for and was in love with _him_ and it was stupid to think he would ever cheat on him for Sephiroth--that it didn't _matter _what the latter wanted because Cloud already had what he wanted and needed and wasn't about to give it up for him.

Sora remembered seeing Leon's face--he'd seemed troubled for a moment, almost…guilty for some reason…before he seemed content with the response. At least for a little while. But that still didn't resolve his disdain and negative feelings about Cloud being around Sephiroth and everyone knew it.

Sora had done his best to honestly stay out of the situation when he could--he still had his own problems--or rather problem--to deal with and the last three months hadn't made said issue any easier.

He wasn't beginning to really show yet but that certainly didn't stop his sister and her friends from rubbing his belly and gushing while DiZ, his self appointed personal pediatrician, and his 'minions' as he now called his apprentices, kept wanting to treat him like a lab rat but thankfully, Cloud wouldn't let them.

And then there were the 'symptoms'. He still had waves of morning sickness (to his horror, DiZ told him that it could last with some expecting mothers the entire term), his hormones were already starting to get a little out of whack--he was certainly a little more moody and easier to upset than before but it hadn't reached the critical point yet, thank goodness. Then there was the bit of swelling here and there in the ankles. He felt a lot of fatigue lately and overall, the stress was definitely starting to get to him.

And Kairi seemed to be the main factor of his stress problem:

It didn't allude her that he was spending (at this point) abnormal amounts of time with Riku. It was like the pair were best friends again: if you saw one, the other wasn't too far behind. And Sora had literally, run out of lies to explain exactly what they were always doing and why they were always together, other than them trying to 'mend their friendship'. Which was half true: the pair had gone out of their way to become better friends but they'd also started going to private (for obvious reasons, set up by DiZ) birthing classes and every weekend, he and Riku would venture to Aerith and Zack's home to learn first hand how to take care of a infant.

But it wasn't like he could tell Kairi that and she was definitely starting to get suspicious: Wakka had already warned him that she was starting to ask him and Tidus 'odd' questions about the pair. Not that the two teens would know anything: Sora hadn't told anyone in that circle of friends about his predicament, afraid that it might get back to Kairi. Certainly, he could trust Tidus and Wakka to never to say anything--but Selphie? She was a gossip and since Kairi was her best friend, she would tell her almost immediately.

Though on the brighter side, Wakka and Tidus had relieved some of Kairi's worry, much to Sora's relief, and by complete accident:

Sora had dragged Riku to one of their Blitz ball games, since he'd promised the pair he'd come, and surprised to see the later there, after the game, the two boys and Selphie immediately struck up a conversation with him. Riku had been rather reluctant at first: while he was 'okay' with the trio, he obviously still had reservations about being friends with them again since they had all but ditched him in favor of Kairi.

But it wasn't long before the group was headed to Uncle Scrooge's Ice Cream Parlor, chatting it up just like old times and hanging out in general. Sora had loved the atmosphere: Riku seemed genially happy, Wakka and Tidus had livened up a bit, relieved to be back on better terms with Riku--he knew it had bothered them not being able to hang out with Riku as much even though they tried never to speak much about it--and Selphie was her usual chatter-box self, picking up right where their friendship left off.

And ever since, the pair and Selphie, when she could get away from Kairi and Namine`, who she also frequently hung out with (and more than usual since Sora was always with Riku it seemed) had gone out of the way to try to hang out with Riku. Even Axel was warming up to them. Kind of. (He didn't insult them upon sight anymore or put 'oddities' in their drinks, so it was a start.)

Kairi seemed to be more pleased that the pair was around them and even lightened up for a little while about the situation--Sora guessed it made it easier for her to keep 'tabs' on what exactly he and Riku were up to (though they never took Wakka and Tidus with them to their classes and never mentioned the baby) but it didn't resolve to much of everything:

There were a lot of things Sora couldn't--or rather wouldn't--do with her anymore in order to safe guard the baby, which of course, made her upset and further suspicious. Such as her excusive tackle hugging. Or hard jabs, pokes, punches, and pinches to the stomach--no wresting around to tickle her and he didn't carry her too much of anywhere anymore.

And as far as his symptoms went, he'd tried everything to explain them all away until finally, Cloud had a conversation with the girl. He wasn't sure what he said--or even how he said it--but all he knew was Kairi though obviously in disdain about the entire ordeal, didn't ask nearly as many questions about them anymore.

When she could help it, that was.

Their relationship was practically at a stand still: when they were together, it wasn't too long before some form of argument broke out, with her demanding to know why he was always around Riku and why they had to hang out so much--true, she'd agreed to stop trying to get in the way of it but she just couldn't stop letting it be known her feelings over the matter--and why he preferred his time with him over hers.

Sora honestly thought she was beginning to get a jealous--like he was cheating on her or something just as ridiculous--but he could understand her concerns about all the time he spent: she didn't like Riku and he supposed she did have a right to get upset about him hanging out with him so much now.

But honestly: the harsh glares whenever her path did manage to cross Riku's? The angry or passive aggressive half assed covered up accusations throw in his direction every once so often? And now she'd even gone back on her promise to try to get in the way of them hanging out together.

She started purposely finding things to do or ways to get him to go out with her---it didn't matter if it was her dance recital or some event like a concert or dance away from Destiny Island--she seemed to be going out of her way to drag him off anywhere to get him away from Riku. And if he tried to deny her or complain? Then she'd toss back all the time he was spending with Riku in the first place back in his face, how she was his girlfriend, and how he should _want_ to spend time with her more.

It was all becoming to much: Sora hated having to lie to her about his situation but there was no way he could tell his increasingly 'hostile-towards-his-friendship-with-Riku' girlfriend about it. And honestly, at this point, he didn't want to spend time with her: she only lectured him and argued at this point and the stress was taking way too much out of him. He didn't want to give up on them--he was being the bad boyfriend here and he knew that--but for now, it was the only solution he could think of to keep the small peace he had with her and between her and Riku while his pregnancy was going on: tell her nothing and stay away.

He wouldn't be able to do that forever he knew--by his fifth month, he'd definitely start showing the signs belly wise and there would be no way she'd miss the tell-tale signs of him being pregnant: he was slender and skinny and as firm and round as his belly would get, there would be no way he could pass it off as 'getting fat'.

No…it was best just not deal with it until he needed to. And honestly, it was too the point where he practically ran to Riku just to get away from it all…where he was comfortable. Peaceful. Lo..

No. It wasn't like that. It…_**wasn't**_…because Riku was just a friend. Of course they'd gotten a little closer: they were having a baby together. But nothing else, nothing more. That night after the beach party had been a mistake--something that wouldn't have happened under normal circumstances.

There was nothing else between them. Nothing at all.

But…the pair had definitely gotten closer.

Sora was now able to recall all of Riku's immediate likes and dislikes, from food to people, just like he use to, and vise versa. Though Sora felt like the ability had really never left him. Just suppressed. And Riku had simply just always remembered.

Sora had gotten into a habit of spending the night at Riku's as well: since Sephiroth had returned home and Riku explained everything to him (apparently, this had been hilarious according to Axel, since Riku told him during dinner and Sephiroth had chocked on his drink 'accidentally'), the elder of the two brothers had insisted on getting a larger home: he left the old place to Axel, Roxas, and Demyx (Which was silly, considering they just migrated to Riku's new place anyway, hanging out as much as they did, though thankfully, it didn't bother Sephiroth. Much.) and the new home had a room designated for the baby's nursery.

Which thanks to Sora's mother, was already decorated to the max with Winnie the Pooh cribs, rocking chairs, blankets, pillows, rugs, pictures, wall scrolls, toys-- if Winnie the Pooh made it, that baby had it.

"Why not just buy the bear and stick him in here with a tree and jar full of honey?" Riku had joked with a grimace. But Sora honestly thought it was cute.

As a matter of fact, she'd pretty much sent everything they'd ever need for it: diapers, cloth diapers, safety pins with special locks so they wouldn't come undone and accidentally poke the baby. Bottles (Winnie the Pooh), binkies (also Pooh), No-tear formula shampoos, different oils and powders--as Cloud had called it "Mom lost her mind with the baby shopping."

Especially since no one knew what it was yet. Though thankfully, all the clothing she'd purchased had been unisex--but Sora knew as soon as she found out what it would be, the baby would be have a wardrobe to make even the most obsessed fashion guru jealous.

He and Riku simply took her spoiling in stride--though Sora oddly had the feeling that she seemed a lot more excited about him having a child--simply because he was hanging around Riku again.

It was no big secret that she adored the platinum blond and seemed a little…hurt once Sora had told her that they didn't really hang out anymore. She was always asking about him, even then, and once Sora had explained everything, she seemed ecstatic by the idea of the pair being together again. She saw him as a second son because the pair had been such good friends and apparently, the feeling never wavered.

And Riku, for his part, seemed to be very grateful, as he'd thought Sora's family hated him. But it was actually quite the opposite--for the most part: certainly Cloud seemed a little distant or cold to him. At first it was because he'd gotten Sora in this trouble in the first place but that quickly gave way to his general disdain with having to be around Riku's brother almost forcefully now considering the latter was hell bent on helping Riku in his situation.

Cloud didn't seem to be holding the grudge anymore however and he'd pretty much gone back to treating Riku like part of the family again, just as he had before things had gone sour with Sephiroth. Though Leon had appeared to adopt this disdain for the platinum blond: he seemed to dislike Riku a little more usual because it seemed to bring Sephiroth around as well. But his sister? She was practically as bad as his mother about Riku being around again.

And…she was trying to pair them up it seemed. Sora had to explain to her that it wasn't like that--and that he you know, had a girlfriend-- but telling anything to her was like talking to a brick wall when she had her mind made up: pointless. She'd sent them on 'quiet evenings' together , complete with her and Reno fixing them dinner once. She'd sent them on errands they could do together and Sora was sure it was on purpose. She'd even tried buying a teddy bear for Sora and claiming it was from Riku, to which the latter denied.

And Sora remember feeling a little disappointed that Riku wasn't the one that bought the small stuff animal for him--but then again, it wasn't like he should have either.

In the end though, his sister didn't have to try so hard to get them to at least, hang out together. He'd grown to love the time he'd spent with Riku. He looked forward to it, cherished it even. There was simply nothing like it just to be near him. Or hear the sound of his voice. Or see those rare, genuine smiles Riku would give him--just him--instead of his trademark smirk he gave everyone else. It made him feel special…Riku always made him feel so wanted and so special.

"Hey, I almost forgot," Riku laughed, causing Sora to look at him strangely before he continued. "While we was at parenting classes--"

"You mean 'daddy' classes," Sora corrected him and he gave the brunette a funny look. "You're really insistent on this 'cute' thing, huh?"

"Well, we aren't suppose to do that 'speak nonsense baby talk' thing because the mind actually doesn't grow or benefit from it," Sora explained. "So simplifying and making real words 'cuter' should do the trick. So when you say parenting class, I say 'daddy' class cause you know, the baby can still hear you Ku."

Riku started laughing and shaking his head. "You're so dumb sometimes Sora."

"Don't say 'dumb' Riku, the baby shouldn't learn that word yet!" he scolded and Riku glared at him. "Sora it's just--"

"Stop!"

"But--"

"Hush!"

"Sora--"

"Blah blah blah--nope!"

"Okay, fine, I won't say du--"

"We're not listening. . ."

"I won't say that word again Sora, knock it off," Riku laughed and Sora proudly nodded. "That's better."

"While I was in our 'daddy' classes," Riku finally began, giving a pointed glare and smirk at the word 'daddy' and Sora smiled proudly and nodded in approval, making the former laugh again and roll his eyes. "The instructor gave me this DVD for us to watch."

Sora tilted his head curiously and carefully, Riku urged him to get up--which only made Sora pout a little and snuggle closer against him, burying his face into Riku's chest. Sora heard a small sound--as gasp maybe--then nothing.

He could feel Riku looking at him but he didn't care--he was too busy sniffing him. He couldn't help it: Riku used the best body wash that smelled like fruit and it was a scent that made Sora want strawberry ice cream. He loved the scent, it meshed well with Riku's own 'special' scent that he just…had.

"…Sora…" he heard him question softly and Sora looked up at him with a playful, innocent smile. Riku only stared back, eye brow arched, watching the brunette with an unreadable expression on his face. He saw a flicker of something in his eyes that he just couldn't place. But for some reason, it made Sora's heart race a little.

"I don't wanna," Sora mewled in a pout like manner and Riku arched his brow further and scuffed. "But you gotta."

"No."

"We have to watch it before class tomorrow," Riku insisted amused and Sora shook his head, looking adorably put out--he knew no one could resist his adorable face. It had gotten him out of a number of situations when he'd been in trouble with his parents or Cloud.

"No."

"Come on Sora--"

"I don't wanna move, I'm comfortable and my stomach is settled, you're my pillow, I'm preggers and I said nope. So nope," Sora announced matter of factly and snuggling up against him again to put emphasis on the matter, laid his head back down on his chest. Riku laughed and began running his fingers through his hair, relaxing Sora further and making him more comfortable.

"Fine, I have other ways," Riku announced before reaching slightly over to his night stand and picking up a book with the title 'Ways to Relax Your Partner During the Child Birth Process', he chucked it at the door right across the way.

The music that was playing within it stopped immediately and Axel stuck his head out of the door, glaring at Riku with an amused 'What?' look on his face.

Riku gestured toward his DVD player. "Put the disc in there for me."

"Get your own lazy ass up and do it," Axel shot back, looking mock insulted that he even had the nerve to ask him to do such a thing when he wasn't too far away from it himself. Sora immediately glared at the red head. "Don't you say--"

"Yeah, whatever, I know, 'behind,' then," Axel sighed, waltzing into the room and doing as he was asked. "Geez Sora, you're like a woman on her constant period. So moody and anal."

"Am not," Sora cried defensively before eyeing a ice blue treat in the hands of Roxas and Demyx as they too ventured into the room and took a seat on the floor.

The trio looked at the pair and Roxas answered simply "We wanna watch."

"You don't even know what it is yet," Axel reminded him.

"You won't want to either," Riku warned.

"Don't care, we're bored, doesn't matter what it is," Demyx answered this time, matter of factly, taking one good lick of his popsicle before catching Sora watching him, he gave a warm smile and gladly gave it him. Sora quickly accepted the treat in delight, thanking the blond graciously before offering Riku a lick first.

Riku took in the right tip and gave a nice, long suck on it before smiling at Sora and offering his thanks, seemingly amused by the light blush that crept on the younger teen's face as ocean blue eyes watched his actions closely.

'_Just friends…' _Sora thought rapidly. _'Just friends…have a girlfriend…just friends…'_

"Well then gentlemen and Sora," Axel began, smirking as Sora gave him a glare. "Let's get this party started!"

He pushed play on the remote and took a seat by Roxas. The group watched as the movie started with a doctor explaining a few things for the first ten minutes before it cut to a woman giving birth.

A very graphic birth.

She wasn't on medication…there was lots of fluids and all the pushing even managed to make her poop on herself a little. All the while her jackass of a boyfriend, husband or whatever, kept advising her to push in the most annoying manner, sticking a camcorder in her face and asking her to smile and what not before she finally got angry enough to push it hard right back into his face, knocking him over, before she demanded that he be thrown out.

By this point, the entire's group mouths were open and making different faces ranging from disgust, to shock, to just plain horror.

"…Damn," Axel said with a sneer of disgust, and Roxas winced at little as the head just kinda 'popped' out. "You'll never shit right again Sora."

"If it even comes out that end," Demyx replied breathlessly. "What if the baby comes out of his penis hole? Oh! Could you _**imagine**_? I heard that when guys get those--what are they kidney stones ?--those things are like the size of peas and they hurt exceptionally bad when they come out. Think of a head the size of--of _**that**_?!"

"It would split like a banana peel," Axel agreed, making an even more disgusted face.

"Poor Sora," Roxas gasped, instantly looking up at his equally terrified cousin.

"Knock it off, you're freaking him out!" Riku snapped, glaring at all of them. And they were--the mental image Sora had just thought of to Axel's words were not a good one.

"Man, it's good he's the bottom cause he'll never be able to use his dick again," Axel continued, shivering a little at the mental image and Sora had to chase his own horrible images of his penis exploding out his mind again, trying to think of more comforting thoughts.

'_Kairi', _he thought quickly. _'In a bikini smiling and not fussing. His mother giving him a large mountain of strawberry ice cream. Riku. Riku without a shirt. Riku without his clothing. Riku wet without his clothing on…_

'_Just friends…just friends…**just friends**…'_

"Axel!" Riku snapped.

"But then his ass hole may never be the same again so no dick would ever be able to satisfy him…"

"Axel!" both Riku and Roxas snapped and Sora, quick on the defensive but not really thinking about the words he was about to say, added "Riku would satisfy me no matter what!"

And then Sora got the mental sound of a car skidding to stop as everyone in the room turned to look at him, the video completely forgotten. His face went from pink to red instantly and he adverted his gaze to his stomach, rubbing it a little for support. Then he had the funny thought of his baby probably looking at him confused too and he smiled a little, trying not to laugh.

"…I thought you weren't really, you know, erm…" Roxas began softly and Sora refused to answer him.

He technically wasn't into guys--that night had been an accident because he'd been drunk. Just an accident…didn't mean he was really…well maybe…

"I…might be into both, now, I guess, I mean…" he rambled stuttered.

"Well," Axel begin with a Chester cat grin and Sora immediately began rambling again. "I mean not really, it was Riku…but…I…he could satisfy anyway--erm--cause he--I mean, I don't want--and he doesn't have to--my behind won't get _that_ big--or--erm--"

"Bow Chicka Wow woooow," Axel teased and Roxas instantly snorted with laughter before the red head continued. "Damn it Riku! What did I tell you about seducing innocent boys like Sora? You've gone and corrupted him! And now you sexing him up is all he can think about!"

"I think about other things Riku does!" Sora protested, causing them all to keep their gaze on him, while Roxas fought hard not to out right laugh in his face and Demyx cleared his throat to be polite as he adverted his eyes to the floor with a knowing look. Axel's grin only grew wider as his eye brow arched high on his forehead. "Like…him? In the shower? Covered in soapy goodness?"

'_Mmmmmm…'_

"No!" Sora shrieked overly defensive, his shy and embarrassed look betraying him and Axel laughed immediately, Roxas and Demyx joining in. He looked down at his hands, feeling like a jackass.

He never was that great at lying and he definitely wasn't that good at covering things up--that was probably why Kairi was being so suspicious and angry like she was.

He was brought out of this thought as he felt a comforting arm around him.

"It's okay Sora," Riku said in a steady, calm, and damn him--seductive tone. (And Sora bet himself that he wasn't even trying for it either. It was probably just his own odd thoughts at this point.) "I like to think of me in the shower too. I'm pretty hot, I'll admit it."

Sora broke out into his own smile and laugh and instantly gave it to Riku in gratitude. Sora saw a trace of pink kissing Riku's own cheeks but the boy was giving his trademark smirk, nodding a little and arching his brows. "It's okay that you want me Sora."

"Shut it!" Sora laughed, pushing the boy playfully before leaning on him and snuggling close again.

'…_It's all just hormones.' Sora sighed, though he felt like he was trying to fool himself on some of it. 'Gotta be. I'm never this clingy or emotional to anyone. I'm glad he doesn't mind it too much though--I figured it would have bothered him to have anyone cling this much to him…especially a guy.'_

Sora thought about the last bit for a split second_. _

'_Is Riku even…that way? I mean he jokes around and we did sleep together but were both drunk and he dated girls before that…and I'm not sure who he dated while we weren't speaking. He's probably bisexual. Like…me._

'_Like me._

'_There. That wasn't so bad. Not at all actually--my friends don't care about that sort of thing and I know my family won't. But I'm with Kairi so that kind of thing doesn't even matter. Riku is just a friend. I really hot friend. That I've slept with. And who I'm having a baby for. And we'll be a happy family. And get a dog. Because dogs are awesome. And a house with a picket fence because that's 'the dream'…and what am I saying, I'm with Kairi. And now I'm rambling. In my own mind…'_

He snapped out his thoughts to see that everyone had settled down again, watching the DVD. This time it was showing how child birth went when the woman was medicated and the husband and including a sister this time, where less silly and more supportive. Though the man was cradling his hand, which meant Sora must have missed the point where he'd gotten it hurt. (Which was when the young woman squeezed it restlessly before the meds had kicked in…)

He took a brief chance to steal a glance up at Riku and wasn't surprised when before long, aquamarine eyes were looking back down at him. They seemed to soften instantly as a small smile broke on Riku's face.

"If it makes you feel better, I think of you too Sora," he admitted in a soft whisper. Calm and confident.

Sora's heart fluttered a little and he found himself trying to practically merge himself with the elder teen, feeling the need to just be close to him. "I didn't mean…I mean…I think my emotions are just…because of the baby…"

"I know Sora. You do like to cling to everyone a bit more and you can get a bit more testy than normal," Riku replied before he smirked. "But what does that have to do with picturing me in the shower?"

"I don't, Axel was just teasing, is all," Sora insisted and Riku simply smiled.

"Sure," was his only reply and Sora knew he didn't believe it for a second. And he didn't try to deny it either.

Honestly Sora didn't know how exactly he felt about Riku. Something was there…he knew that even if he didn't want to admit it right away it was definitely there. And it was strong. And boy, was it going to be one hell of a problem considering he still had something called a 'girlfriend'.

And Sora couldn't help but feel a little sad. He no excuse or reason to break up with Kairi--if anything he was surprised she hadn't broken up with him yet, as upset as he was making her. And he had to respect her a little for it: she was trying to stick by him and make things work the best she could, even if deep down, no matter what the situation may be, he felt as if he didn't really deserve it.

He didn't deserve any of it: he'd cheated on her once, even if it was by accident, and look where it'd gotten him? And now…now he was starting to possibly develop feelings for Riku--or--were they always there, deep down? He remembered the argument he'd gotten to with Riku when they'd woken up the next morning.

How he admitted he wasn't exactly *that* drunk…that he'd known what was happening enough to actually…accept it. Maybe his judgment was hindered because he would know better than to do that to Kairi under regular circumstances…but it had been something he'd wanted.

Even if he didn't completely understand why, he'd wanted to sleep with Riku that night. And it hadn't just been the alcohol either.

Be that as it may, whatever he was feeling now couldn't ever be fully realized: while he and Riku were friends, Riku probably didn't feel nearly the same way for him.

Sora couldn't help but feel a little sad at the thought. No…he probably didn't. Riku teased him just a moment ago sure…and who's to say exactly 'what' he was thinking about when he said he thought about him too.

Not that it mattered because Sora had no intention of cheating on Kairi further than he already had. He was already proving to be a pretty worthless boyfriend now that he barely spent time with her…he didn't want to be completely let the girl down by getting into a full blown relationship with someone he knew that she despised.

So whatever his feelings may be…he'd just have to ignore them. They could be good friends. They could raise this child--as friends--but nothing more.

For Kairi's sake.

Sora closed his eyes, feeling the not wanting to think about that anymore, pushing out his white fence and dog, any lingering thoughts of a hurt, angry Kairi screaming at him for his betrayal, or of his present thought of simply kissing the boy that held him now.

He would just relax and bask in the time they shared--even if they had to be friends.

He could be happy with it that way-- just him and Riku. Together.

And while he knew in the longer run he was probably fooling himself and things would eventually only get worse from here. . .that was all he needed.

* * *

Something was wrong and she knew it.

Rikku--or Ri as everyone called her as not to confuse her with her male counterpart-- was always good at reading people and accessing situations.

And she knew something was terribly wrong on the wonderful world of 'Cloud'.

Her brother was far too moody lately--and he _wasn't_ the pregnant one!

It had been a hell storm of arguing the night after Sephiroth had left. She and Reno hadn't come back until more than a few hours later and they were still at it.

She couldn't understand it: Leon and Cloud had definitely had some disagreements and arguments in the past but it had never gone on for quite so long. . .

"_I thought you were over him!" Leon snapped angrily._

"_I am over him Leon, why the hell would I even be with you if I wasn't!" Cloud shouted back angrily as she and Reno slowly walked into the room cautiously._

"_You tell me," Leon demanded moodily, glaring daggers at the blond and Cloud narrowed his eyes. "Look Leon, I'm sorry that he moved back into town but I can't change that!"_

"_No, but you could certainly change how the hell you interact with him," Leon snapped. "And making out with him in front of me isn't it."_

"_**He** kissed me!"_

"_And **you** enjoyed it!"_

"_How the hell would you know how I feel, you're not me Leon!"_

"_I know what your body does when **I** kiss you and you certainly were doing it there and then some," the brunette shot back in a matter of fact, blunt tone._

"_Fine--**FINE**! I enjoyed it, I friggin loved every minute of it! I wanted to throw him on the floor and fuck him in front of you too, is that what you want me to say Leon?!" Cloud snapped harshly and Leon only glared at him with stone cold eyes. "I didn't kiss him and I didn't enjoy it! He was only doing it to get under your damn skin!"_

"_Are you sure your not leading him on," Leon pushed and Cloud looked out done. "Because he certainly seemed to think he had chance to get you back."_

"_Have you ever **met** Sephiroth?" Cloud asked amazed, as if Leon was the stupidest person in the world and should have known how the tall young man was already. "He's a pompous, arrogant ass! No shit he thinks he could have the world with the simple acknowledgement of him wanting it: he thinks he can do and have anything or anyone he wants, when he wants it! He thinks I still belong to him just because we dated once! I could shit in his mouth then punch him hard in the balls and he'd **still** think he has a chance just because he says so!"_

"_Maybe after he stabbed you with his sword," Reno had joked, completely missing the double entendre even after she glared at him with a light annoyed smirk._

The argument didn't get much better from there and at this point, she and Reno has simply left again, this time though, she wouldn't come back until in the morning. But not before grabbing her night stuff and putting it in a bag, telling her brother who wasn't listening to a word she said (by evidence of him calling her at 11 that night, not having realized she'd even been home) that she would be at Reno's. She also took the time to call Sora before he got home to warn him of the ensuing argument as well, to which the brunette seemed thankful for.

The morning she'd come home, everything was quiet. Tense, awkward, but quiet. Leon had apparently left around ten something the night before and hadn't been there since. Cloud seemed worried but still too upset to voice said opinion and was having a long chat with Zack at the dinner table, who was trying to calm him down while Aerith made them all some hot chocolate.

She'd done well not to pry too much, but she had definitely gotten the gist: Cloud really did want to move on and push forward with Leon and he was worried and upset that Sephiroth in one night had jeopardized the entire thing.

She hadn't know Leon was so jealous but she could definitely understand: Sephiroth was very confident and intimidating. It was very easy to believe in what he said: if he wanted something, he had ways of getting it, so it was natural Leon felt threatened. Not to mention--and let's face it--Sephiroth was completely, utterly and hopelessly attractive to look at.

Seriously.

Both Yuna and Paine, her two best friends, had snuck taking pictures of him on their cell phones once he was at the beach. Not wearing a shirt. And wet.

They'd given a copy to Yuffie, who didn't shut up about it for weeks. It had been a good picture though, she had to admit: the wind had blown just a little to make his nipples hard and move his hair gently in the breeze. His Mako green eyes were bright, but barely visible because his bangs, having been wet, were doing a miraculous job of hiding them somehow. And Cloud had just said something so he was smirking, pulling the look together.

So she could completely understand if her brother was having wet dreams about that: Who wouldn't?

But it was more than that, she'd gathered as well: he admitted that he definitely still had something there, but felt like it was just lingering emotions from a past relationship. And Zack and Aerith had been divided: Aerith agreed, thinking that Cloud was simply reminiscing about old feelings and past memories and they were simply getting to him.

But Zack considered the possibility that they were still genuinely real, because considering their break up and how they simply may have never left. The anger buried them, suppressed them maybe, but couldn't completely destroy them. And once Sephiroth came back officially into his life and expressed his interest, just as strong as ever, Cloud reacted to them because he felt exactly the same. The only thing really stopping him was being stubborn, having Leon, and his ultimate guilt for wanting Sephiroth back into his life.

The couple had gotten into light argument and Cloud was easily torn. And Ri felt sorry for her brother.

He was usually the strong one, the parental figure and guardian of the household. He had a level head, wisdom that seemed a bit beyond his years, and overall, was the rock of their sibling trio. She was the wild, reckless one. Sora was the young, sweet, innocent one. And he was the strong but sometimes quiet leader.

But lately, he'd just been…different. He was trying hard, she knew, these past three months to mend things with Leon. He went out of his way to do things for the brunette: make his favorite foods, do things with him and just him alone. And he'd definitely gone out of his way to avoid spending time with Sephiroth when he could, especially alone, which hadn't been too easy. Though Sephiroth didn't seem phased in the least. He had actually backed off quite a bit on the 'relationship' thing, but she assumed it was part of his overall plan.

He had always been patient, she knew, and he was doing it now. He was simply waiting on her brother, bidding his time. As if he was expecting something to crack and give an opening.

Sephiroth had made it his business to come over on a causal basis as it was now, mostly about Sora and his baby predicament, since it was his brother that had knocked him up.

It had been hard at first, to say the least, and around the third time, Sephiroth and Cloud had actually gotten into a physical fight, tearing up the living room and finishing the battle outside.

However, things had gotten easier and Cloud found himself having to converse with Sephiroth on many occasions, much to Leon's dismay. The pair decided they'd have two nurseries, one at each residence (her mother had already furnished both with the same theme, though the one in their house was more of a 'Tigger' theme while the one at Sephiroth's was 'Pooh and Piglet') unless Riku and Sora, as Cloud suggested, moved in together--but they'd keep them anyway for when the baby visited.

Over the following months, the aggression Cloud had towards Sephiroth had all but completely subsided in favor of Riku and Sora's best interest. They now could have normal, calm, hell-- even friendly discussions and confrontations.

Whatever Sephiroth was planning, Ri concluded, involved letting Cloud warm up to him again before he moved in for the kill.

And Leon, in her opinion, wasn't making that to hard.

Ri frowned a little.

It just didn't seem like he was putting the same effort her brother was into trying to mend, what she thought, was a small little rip in their relationship. Sure, he seemed to 'humor' Cloud with accepting his forms of apologizes or doing things together. After about a week, it did seem like things were back to normal between the two of them.

But she had noticed a few things…like how Leon was always getting this 'private' cell phone calls. And how he spent long periods of time away from the house--and that was the odd part. According to Reno, he'd noticed it before but she hadn't really thought about it until a month after the fact, including the day when he was suppose to be getting them Chinese food--that had taken way longer than it should have.

She wasn't sure if Cloud had picked up on it or not but if he did, he seemed to be ignoring it for some reason.

But she and Reno certainly weren't. And Reno insisted they were the 'tell-tell' signs but the jury was still out for her. She knew Leon and she would really hate to think…

…but Reno had made some good points. Not to mention Leon's jealous bouts and small arguments with Cloud about leaving Sephiroth out of their lives completely, which was impossible given Riku's involvement with Sora-- weren't helping matters. (She also noticed his disdain with Sephiroth was slowly turning into disdain for Riku but alas, that was neither here nor there.)

Ri looked up as Leon walked into the room, giving her a small nod of acknowledgement before he left the house.

Her frown deepened. He had gotten another on of his 'private' phone calls 45 minutes ago and now he was off somewhere yet again. Cloud wasn't home--he'd gone out to sit in the coffee shop to meet Zack and probably drink away his troubling thoughts with hot chocolate or a Mocha` Latté and here Leon was sneaking off again.

She liked Leon--she really did. He had been there for her brother when he'd needed the companionship and needed someone to ease his pain that Sephiroth had made once he left. He'd been there for the family and honestly, he did feel like another brother to her.

And she'd really hate to think the worst of the situation because she wanted to believe that Leon was better then this--because if she never gave Sephiroth another compliment in life, it was this: he may have argued with her brother. He have infuriated him beyond reason, made him upset to the point that the pair even got into scuffles.

But he never--_**never**_-- once cheated on him.

And she wasn't about to let Leon do it to Cloud either. Her brother deserved better then that.

She waited a few minutes before looking out the window to see him walk away from the house and enter a sleek red sports car before it sped off.

Ri sighed and began to dial up Reno and Yuffie on her cell phone.

She didn't know what games Leon thought he was playing with her brother--but she sure as hell was going to get to the bottom of things very quickly before he got hurt anymore than he probably was about to.

* * *

There was a loud clatter as the spoon he had been using to stir his hot chocolate hit the saucer, the blond ignoring the stares his way as he took a sip of the sweet liquid.

He had been here long enough, waiting for his best friend to show up so he could just relax and hang out with him.

It had been a long few months and he was simply weary with all the stress. Sora and his baby, Sephiroth coming back into his life, and his own insecurities about where his relationship with Leon was heading--or already was.

He needed to talk to Zack--the raven haired goof ball always knew what to say to make him feel better and more confident about things. In an odd sense, he rather looked up to Zack in times like these and just in general. He was always so confident about things, usually easy going and took all stressful, seemingly impossibly situations in stride.

Cloud could only wish he could do the same but it just wasn't in his nature.

He didn't look up when he heard the chair skid gently across the floor as someone took a seat across from him, assuming he was about to get Zack leaning uncomfortably close to him over the table with that big goofy grin of his, asking Cloud what he was crying about now--that was what he usually did when the pair met at the coffee shop.

"Just a water please," a cold, smooth voice demanded to a waitress before she could ask for his order and that made Cloud look up instantly.

Sephiroth simply stared back at him, the tugs of a smile on the corners of his lips as watched the conflicted emotions cross the blonds' face.

Cloud felt a vise like grip on his heart. He hadn't spent private time alone with Sephiroth since he'd returned home and he'd come to visit him that first time. Any other time, he'd had someone with him--Ri, Sora, Sora's friends, Leon, Zack--someone was always around.

He'd done that so Leon wouldn't get any ideas--so Sephiroth wouldn't have any chances.

So he wouldn't mess up. . .

"Zack will be here shortly. He had a few things to contend with before his arrival," Sephiroth said simply, not giving the blond the chance to ask why he was there. "He told me that you were feeling down and asked me to help…cheer you up."

Cloud didn't speak, he only glared at the platinum beauty, thoughts of strangling Zack coming to mind quickly for even telling him to come here at all.

Sephiroth only leaned in a little, a knowing smirk on those delectable lips of his that Cloud zeroed in on for a split second before he glared back into Mako green eyes, pretending he hadn't just been distracted.

Sephiroth only gave a barely visible 'humph' of laughter, letting the blond know it hadn't gone unnoticed before he asked in a quite, almost taunting manner that got right under Cloud's skin:

"Trouble in your so called 'relationship' with Leon, Cloud?"

* * *

_**Author's Notes:**_  
_Hmm…wonder if that will end well. Probably not._

_Not really much to say except I'm really sorry again for such a long delay in the update. I should be getting these back to normal now, that I'm balancing my fan fiction writing with my artwork and life in general. I would have had this chapter up sooner but I ended up rewriting the part with Sora and Riku like seven times (I'm serious!) and then decided to wait to upload it on Christmas, as my little 'gift'._

_As for what's to come in the next chapter: Axel has an issue with cigarettes and Sora. Hilarity will (hopefully) ensue. Oh yeah, and Ri spies on Leon, Cloud and Sephiroth--blah blah blah. ^_^_

_Anywho, I hope you enjoyed it! Until next time: Happy Reading!_

_~Kamirine_


	10. Chapter Nine: Hot Chocolate

_**Author's Notes:  
**__Finally! My writer's block is officially over. I literally have written this chapter so many times I lost count. There are have been so many things going on in my life that have kept me from updating my stories (Engaged now, do the happy dance!) that I honestly didn't realize how long it's been until I looked at my last update date. Goodness. _

_You guys are very patient and there are no words to describe how much I appreciate it. I'm really sorry it took so long but hopefully, I'm back in the groove of things and have everything ironed out as it should be._

_This chapter is a bit long so as usual, grab a snack and drink. XD_

_Again, I apologize so much for the long delay and I hope you enjoy the read!_

_

* * *

  
_

_**When Distant Hearts Beat as One**_**  
Chapter Nine: **_And It Started as Such a Good Day with Hot Chocolate_

_He sat in the car as they drove in silence, staring almost absently out of the window at the scenery as it passed him by._

_The conversation that the pair just had only moments before in the café` was weighing greatly on his mind and for good reason._

_Zack had never shown up, sending a simple, flimsy and obvious excuse or another through a text message two hours after Sephiroth had shown up. They had begun with small talk--**very** little small talk. About their past, about Sephiroth's time away and his quick rise in rank. About Sora, Riku, and their baby. About where they thought the pair's relationship might be heading. Anything and everything except the obvious thing that needed to be addressed._

_Sephiroth had been patient and Cloud felt like he'd been trying to wear his resistance down. Make him feel comfortable so that he would be ready to open up and talk about things. He was annoyed, though appreciative of the effort--apparently Sephiroth knew him well and utilized the knowledge. _

_Not remotely a surprise to blond and though a bit annoying, it proved to be refreshing. _

_It had been odd at first--talking to his ex about his current fiancé and their relationship problems. In the back of his mind, he knew this probably wasn't the wisest thing to do, given their history. But Sephiroth had always been the person he'd gone to talk to besides Zack or his father about matters that truly bothered him._

_It was just easy and they understood him better than most. And this time was no different._

_He'd opened up about everything: his fears, his suspicions, his wants and desires, how he felt about Leon in general and the entire situation. How he felt like he was doing something wrong--even though he'd been trying he thought, to fix things and make things better. How he honestly wanted things to work out because contrary to what Sephiroth wanted to believe, he did love Leon greatly._

_The entire time, the platinum beauty simply sat there, watching Cloud with intent focus, studying him as he drank his ice water and listened._

_Once he'd finished, Sephiroth finally offered his advice and insight and Cloud was not surprised with the out come. _

"_Foolishness," he'd said. "Utter foolishness, Cloud. If that is honestly the way you see things, then how can you honestly sit here and say that you are in love with him?"_

_He'd argued but Sephiroth insisted. "Being in love and loving a person are two different things Cloud. You love Leon, perhaps, for all that he's done for you while I was away and the comfort or ease he offered to you when you need it. But you are in no way **in** love with him. Your actions, your words, your every breath dictates otherwise. You know what you want--what you truly need yet you reframe out of guilt. He knows this as well as I do. But how long you can deny yourself is the true question that brings such interest. Though I'm patient for the answer. Sooner or later, you'll have to face everything you're tried so hard to ignore: your true feelings, your suspicions, your wants and desires…and when your ready, I will be there to aid you all the way. It's only a matter of time." _

_The pair ended up talking far into the evening, far past the time for Cloud to get home and finally, they departed, Sephiroth offering to drive him home instead of the blond driving in the brewing thunder storm on his motorcycle._

_He'd agreed, though he didn't know why--he'd ridden home in storms before. Though in the back of his mind, he knew the answer: a reason, any reason to be close to him was a good one._

_He didn't even blink when he heard the engine of the car die nor did he make a move to get out of the car now that it was parked in the driveway of his home. He looked over at the platinum blond that was watching him closely, noting that their faces had instantly gotten closer._

"_I can't," he breathed gently, ignoring his own dying voice as his will urged him forward, his entire body relaxing and a soft sigh of content escaped him as his lips brushed against Sephiroth's, the latter finally adding more pressure and deepening the exchange. He didn't fight but instead, pushed back feverishly, hungry and desperate to taste, to feel the other man near him. Missing him. Wanting him._

_The kiss finally broke too soon as far as Cloud was concerned but he wouldn't show it. He couldn't. This was all wrong. So wrong. And he couldn't give Sephiroth the satisfaction, whether the man already knew how he felt at the moment already or not._

"_Take this," Sephiroth stated soft, smooth tone, his voice sounding like silk against Cloud's skin. Cloud looked down to see him holding out his palm to him, a single silver key laying there on a thin, small silver ring. _

_Cloud stared at him with question and Sephiroth simply gave him a smile. A beautiful, genuine smile, empty of ridicule or malicious intent. A rare smile to behold that sent electric shivers throughout his being. _

"_This is the key to my home Cloud. It is as much your home as it is mine and it always will be, no matter what you want to believe or choose to do. When your ready to finally come home…use it. I'm looking forward to it."_

"_I…can't. Leon--" he tried, feeling his want and longing to reach for the key, knowing that Sephiroth truly held a place for him still in his heart. That everything he'd done up until that point wasn't some game to prove that he held Cloud on a string, dragging him along, waving the fact in Leon's face. _

_He really wanted him back. He wanted things to work out--to continue where things had left off. He wanted the very thing they shouldn't have--that they couldn't have. _

_That he so desperately didn't want to admit he wanted too._

"_Take it," Sephiroth insisted, knowingly._

_And no more words were spoken as he took the small key from the older man without another thought, refusing to look at him now that he was flustered, placing it in his pocket._

_There wasn't another word spoken as he finally opened the car door and closing it gently, raced to his front door, using his new key by accident to try to open it. His mind was swimming now as he fumbling for the right key, finding it and finally opening the door and went inside as Sephiroth finally drove off._

"_Cloud?" he heard a voice call from upstairs as he shut the door and he immediately felt the pangs of guilt as he followed the voice, his new key reminding him of its existence with every step he took._

"_Yeah?" he called as he finally reached the top, seeing Leon standing in the doorway of their bedroom in nothing more than a towel as he dried his wet hair with another._

_The brunette smiled. "I was getting worried. Where were you?"_

"_I was suppose to be hanging out with Zack but he never showed so I just hung out on my own," he lied. Well partially. A partial truth was better than a full lie, though his guilt wasn't fooled. "Where were you?"_

"_I really needed to take care of something…it was bother me for a while," Leon admitted and Cloud frowned a little curious. "Wanna tell me?"_

"_One day."_

"_Fair enough," Cloud sighed, his suspicions immediately flaring in his mind before he quelled then, giving a surprised sound when he found himself entrapped in a warm, tight embrace._

"_Your thinking too much," Leon stated seriously and pulling him into their room and shutting the door, he pushed the blond on to their bed, making the Cloud relax with laughter, the latter trying to protest but instead, finding himself engulfed in an intoxicating kiss, refusing any resistance as he felt his clothing being removed and himself pinned down to the bed._

"_God…Leon…" he moaned once their kiss finally ended, tangling his fingers in Leon's hair as the brunette attacked his neck with feather like kisses, sucking softly on his sensitive areas and biting him possessively but not hard enough to hurt._

"_Hmm?" Leon asked teasingly, continuing his efforts, lifting Clouds legs to his sides, making the blond anxious and needy…_

Cloud woke up with a start, remember vividly the activities of the night prior and the day before as he heard someone moving around his room. He rubbed the sleepy from his eyes, absently remembering that the key Sephiroth had given him was still in his pants pocket, which thankfully, where still on the floor and more importantly, hadn't come out while Leon took his clothing off to molest him.

That…and his butt was rather sore. It had been one hell of a night, to say the least and it had been hard to feel guilty about anything when Leon did that thing he does with his hips and tongue.

No. No time for guilt.

"Sorry," Leon called to him softly, coming out of their bathroom in boxers, smiling sleepily at him. "Had to go to the bathroom."

"Come back to bed," Cloud muttered, feeling the lose of his warmth making him irate.

"It's eight forty." Leon countered.

"So?"

"We're suppose to take Sora to the doctor at ten. We need time to get ready, eat, and get Sora awake," Leon stated, laughing a bit at the latter part of his statement.

Cloud muttered, not really sure what he'd said himself as he placed the pillow back over his head, determined to stay in his bed. Sitting on a hard wooden chair was not something he fancied this early in the morning at this point.

"Get up before I make you," Leon threatened in a low, seductive manner and Cloud responded with pulling the covers over his body, completely shielding himself from the brunette, his mind racing as excitement filled him once he felt pressure on the bed.

He felt the covers gently being pulled back, before he was turned over on to his back, his naked form shivering lightly as he felt the cool air hit him and Leon's warm breath so very close to his sensitive area.

First there was just feather like kisses that trailed from his thigh to his hip, teasing him. They were placed slow and deliberate, making the wait and want more feverous. He was all but begging by the time he felt his hips pinned down to the bed as he squirmed in delight.

"Don't tease," he gave a muffled beg from under the pillow and Leon laughed.

"Will you get up?" Leon questioned and Cloud lifted the pillow enough to shake his head at him before the brunette clicked his tongue in a scolding manner, eyeing him intently.

"I guess you'll have to be punished," he stated softly, letting his breath caress Cloud's ever growing hard on, before finally, agonizingly slow, he took only the tip of his penis in his mouth…

* * *

"_Oh…oh god," he screamed in pure ecstasy as he felt Riku hit that sensitive bundle of nerves for the first time. It was literally indescribable how incredible Riku felt inside him, forcing him to grip the sheets beneath him as tightly as he could as another powerful thrust made him see stars and moan loudly, purring in wanton._

_He felt a slight pause in movement and he looked up at Riku in despair and anger, trying to move himself on the older boy but ceased when he felt his legs being pulled up over Riku's shoulder before the latter gripped Sora's hips , holding him firmly in place and without warning, continued his animalistic thrusting._

_Sora began to babble incoherently, knowing what he meant to say and wanted to say but finding himself unable to as another powerful thrust sent him closer and closer over the edge._

"_Riku…yes…please…Riku…" he cried breathlessly. "Please…"_

"_Leon, god, I'm going to come!"_

Whoa…_**what**_?

Sora woke up abruptly out of his rather…intense dream, his cheeks completely flushed as he remembered the night he'd spent with the platinum haired teen months before.

He listened for a moment, hearing the panting and rather obvious…sucking like sounds from the not so far away room close to his own and rolling his eyes a little, spared a glance at his night stand and grumbled a little: it was nine and he'd have to be at his doctor's for another monthly check up at around ten.

That gave him enough time to take a bath, get dressed and grab some chocolate for breakfast--he always ate light now in the mornings and he had a very bad craving for chocolate suddenly--before he had to leave, if he was lucky. And to be quite frank, he wasn't looking forward to all the questions, probing, and jokes at his expense from said doctor's apprentices during his visit, though it would be bearable: his brother and Leon were coming, not to mention that Riku would be there as well to lend support.

Sora smiled automatically as soon as he thought of platinum blond teen for the second time that morning, ignoring the butterflies in his stomach as his envisions of pale skin and aquamarine eyes went instead to cherry lips slowly, lustful kissing his own, sucking just a little on his bottom lip, coxing, begging him to let him devour them in passion…

"I'll need to get a cigarette from Axel if I keep this up," Sora joked as he blushed, laughing sheepishly to himself as he left his room and made his way to the bathroom, choosing to ignore any and all need to fantasize about Riku and instead, think about a certain red haired girl who's calls he'd been ignoring all day yesterday.

He frowned as he made his bath water, taking off his clothing. After the birthing movie from hell and realizing it was storming, the group decided to simply sit around and talk about things, making each other laugh.

He'd been comfortable and stayed in Riku's arms the entire time, the latter never minding once and if Sora didn't know better, seeming to rather enjoy it. The other had finally left to go fetch pizza, leaving the pair alone. They'd simply sat in silence, listening to the rain and each other's breathing, simply relaxing.

The entire time, Kairi had been trying to call and many times after, though by the fourth time, Axel had turned his phone on vibrate, explaining that if it was really important, the person would call the house, knowing full well Kairi wouldn't have the number.

Sora had taken the quiet time to reflect on everything…his feelings and his relationships and exactly where everything was going in his life. He knew he wanted Riku in his future…but he wasn't sure exactly how to fit him in. He knew how he wanted to but he also knew that things with Kairi would make everything difficult.

And he certainly didn't want to hurt her. But things were just getting…so complicated. His feelings for Riku…soon he would have his child…the attraction he just couldn't ignore…the want and desire.

It was all too much to think about, even now.

Sighing, he stopped his running water and got in, letting the warm water melt away his stress, absently rubbing his belly as he thought of a small life growing inside him. He wasn't really showing yet, though just knowing it was there, made him want to do it, almost as if acknowledging the baby and his love for her--yes her. He was certain.

He sat in the tub for as long as he thought he could before finally washing up and finally getting out, putting on fresh clothing and heading down stairs for that much craved chocolate. He didn't care what it was, as long as chocolate was somehow involved.

Upon entering the kitchen, he noticed his brother and Leon had in the mean time, cleaned up themselves after their 'actives' and found their own way into the kitchen, already sharing mugs of hot chocolate.

His eyes went wide with want, eyeing the mug with a hopeful look.

"Cloud…have I told you I love you lately and that you're my favorite brother?" he asked sweetly, making the blond rolled his eyes. "Want some hot chocolate?"

"And some chocolate ice cream if we have any," Sora beamed as he sat at the table.

Cloud snorted. "Kinda early in the morning for that much chocolate isn't it?"

"What the baby craves, I get to eat. And don't be stingy with the scoops either," Sora insisted. Snorting, Cloud began rummaging though the kitchen cabinets for a medium size bowl and another mug while Leon pulled out the ice cream and a spoon.

"Where were you yesterday?" Cloud asked and Sora shrugged a little. "With Riku."

"Figures," Leon smirked and Sora frowned a little. "What's that suppose to mean?"

"Where else would you hide from your girlfriend?" Cloud chimed in as he came back to the table with a bowl and a mug of hot chocolate, passing a small bowl of sugar towards Sora for his drink as Leon put four scoops of ice cream in the bowl.

"I wasn't hiding from Kairi, I was bonding with the baby's father. We need to bond if we're going to raise a baby," Sora stated matter of factly, ignoring his brother and Leon as they watched him pour in scoop after scoop of crystallized goodness into his drink before finally setting the small bowl of sugar down. He tasted his drink, making a face before adding two more spoonfuls and taking a another test sip.

Satisfied he smiled, and immediately began eating his cold treat, Cloud shaking his head in disapproval while Leon simply put the ice cream back in the freezer and took a seat with the blond at the table.

"You and Riku do an awful lot of bonding," Cloud teased and Sora shrugged. "Whatever is necessary for the baby to have great parents. We want a stable, happy home for her."

"Her?" Leon questioned, arching a brow and Sora beamed. "It's going to be a girl, I just know it. With Riku's eyes and my smile."

Cloud stifled laughter, taking a sip of his hot chocolate. "I didn't know you and Riku wanted to make a 'stable, happy home' together. What's Kairi going to say about that?"

"Why does she matter," Leon muttered and Cloud sent him a glare and the former shrugged. "It's obvious she's a bad choice for him, Cloud. Your just nice about. I choose not to be."

"We're not literally making a home for her and what do you mean Leon?" Sora questioned before eating another spoonful of his treat.

"You have an entirely different demeanor when your with her compared to Riku. You practically light up like a Christmas tree every time someone remotely mentions Riku where as you all but bang your head against the wall whenever Kairi calls. Or visits. Or is mentioned," Leon stated matter of factly and Cloud laughed at the latter of the statement.

"I'm not that bad," Sora insisted, blushing a little in guilt. "It's just that it's hard being around Kairi lately. All we do is argue about Riku and it just causes too much stress. When she's not getting upset about Riku, she's trying to find different ways or things for us to do so we can't hang out together."

"Perhaps you should rethink dating her then," Leon interjected, his stormy eyes watching Sora intently. The younger brunette shook his head.

"She's not really so bad, I'm just being a really bad boyfriend right now," Sora admitted with a guilty sigh and Cloud nodded. "I mean…I spend no time with her, I make excuses to get away from her when I do, I've been screening her calls…and we can't do half the things we used to because I'm pregnant and can't risk the baby--but she doesn't know that so she just probably thinks I'm changing because I'm hanging out with Riku."

Sora sighed a little, taking a slower bite of his ice cream as he thought over the words he just spoke. "She probably thinks Riku is just out to get her--trying to steal me away from her or something. And I'm not exactly helping, always talking about him and hanging around him."

"But isn't that what she pretty much did to Riku?" Cloud questioned softly and Sora looked up at him confused. "How?"

"Well…I mean back when you guys were younger and before you started dating Kairi, you and Riku were inseparable. Then once you started dating, you all but abandoned him for her. In an odd way, she took you from him," Cloud stated.

"It's not like she tried to," Sora insisted. "I chose to stop hanging out with Riku because I thought it would be easier on her. They had a really bad argument and well…some bad things happened between them before we started dating. She really didn't like Riku and I didn't want to put a strain on our relationship before we started dating good. I was just trying to be supportive to her."

"True, but even if she didn't like Riku, she could have tried to be more understanding that the two of you were friends. Best friends, long before the two of you were friends or started dating," Leon pointed out. "Even if she couldn't do it right then, she has no excuse now. She's being a little selfish about the entire ordeal. Certainly, she may not like him but she could at least respect the fact that you want to be friends. You shouldn't have had to sneak behind her back to do it."

Sora looked down at his hot chocolate, troubled, but in heavy thought. "Maybe…"

"No one is saying Kairi's a horrible girl Sora, but it's obvious Riku makes you a lot happier," Cloud sighed, almost sympathetically. "I understand that you don't want to hurt her feelings, but you really need to put your own future and feelings into consideration too. If you really want to stay with Kairi, because you truly love her, then you should. But staying in a relationship out of guilt or because you feel like you owe it to her somehow isn't fair to you or her.

"You'll be with her, wanting to be with Riku. Things could--"

"Could?" Leon questioned, eyeing Sora's stomach and Cloud rolled his eyes. "Fine. Things have already happened and things probably won't get much better from here, Sora. This wasn't a one night stand: you're going to have a baby and Riku wants to be in the baby's life and apparently, yours as well. Unless you can honestly say that you have no romantic feelings for him, then you shouldn't have any problems other than rather Kairi will want to put up with the entire situation."

Cloud gave him a serious, pointed look. "Can you honestly say you don't have any feelings for him, Sora?"

Sora looked guilty immediately, refusing to meet his brother's eye contact. "I mean…we're having a baby together--"

"Stop using the baby as an excuse," Leon demanded softly, watching Sora intently as well. "Even if you weren't having the baby, could you see yourself happy, in a relationship with Riku?"

Sora paused for a moment, truly thinking of the question, immediately thinking of his small house with a white picket fence and small dog running wildly in a yard. Then he could picture a small, happy little girl chasing after it as he and Riku sat nearby on the porch, watching her with loving eyes, holding each other and sipping iced tea.

A warm smiled came over his features and Cloud smirked, nodding a little. "Thought so."

Sora blinked. "I never said--"

"You didn't have to," Leon and Cloud replied in unison, both taking a sip of their hot chocolate at the same time, making Sora stare at the pair for a moment.

The doorbell rang and the trio looked up, Leon quietly getting to his feet to answer the door, leaving the two siblings to drink the beverage before shortly, he returned, in a far darker mood than he'd left in.

Once Sora looked up, he immediately saw why and briefly wondered how Sephiroth was able to get in the door without Leon trying to strangle him.

It was no big secret that the pair had a deep disdain for one another and Sephiroth did nothing but fuel Leon's hatred by pulling antics involving Cloud just to get under his skin.

Such as walking over to the blond as he sat and drank his hot chocolate, tilting his face up to meet his and slowly, seeming to savor the moment, taking his lips passionately with his own. Like he was now.

Sora's lips parted slightly in silent surprised 'O' as Cloud's eyes went wide with shock, darting around the room as a pink tint quickly touched his cheeks--though he made no move to actually get his mouth _away_ from Sephiroth's. Rather, he parted them slightly when the more aggressive of the pair beckoned entrance into his mouth with his tongue---his Mako green eyes all the while staring intently at Leon--challenging him.

Sora slowly took an uncomfortable sip of his beverage, adverting his eyes to the beautiful pattern of black and white checkered marveled floor that their kitchen had, hoping that should Leon attempt to attack Sephiroth, he would at least be mindful of him, his stomach, and the table possibly colliding with it should it be shoved back or go flying.

Thankfully, the kiss ended and no such thing happened, as Sephiroth took a seat at the table and Leon, eyeing him in a threatening manner, simply sat down as well, moving Cloud's chair over to him while the blond simply stared at the table breathless and at a loss for words. All the while, Sephiroth only smirked at Leon, continuing to stare at the man in pure malice and challenge.

Sora cleared his throat, hoping to break the ice. "Good morning Seph, erm, what brings you by?"

The elder man simply stared at Sora with cold indifference, not missing the young man's tactic but choosing not to say anything about it none the less. "I am simply here to inform you that do to last minute grievances, my brother will be unable to make your doctor's appointment."

"You could have called with that information," Leon snapped venomously and Sephiroth simply smirked at him. "True, but why miss the chance to see my dearest Cloud and great him with such vigor?"

"He doesn't need you to do any such thing," Leon snapped.

"But you and I both know he _**wants**_ me to," Sephiroth stated in a rather nasty tone, narrowing his eyes slightly and Cloud stood up with a start, glaring at Sephiroth in disapproval. "No, I don't, Sephiroth. Stop trying to incite Leon's anger so early in the morning. Your message is delivered, now get out."

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Sephiroth stated in a calm, smooth drawl. "He wants to ensure that in his absence, Sora is well taken care of so naturally, he asked me to attend. To keep him completely abreast of everything that goes on."

"Then we can call him," Cloud stated firmly and Sephiroth only stared at him. "Oh Cloud, you know me too well by now. If he asks me to do such a thing, I won't simply back out just because your so-called boyfriend--"

"_Fiancé_," Leon corrected him firmly, looking mildly satisfied when he saw the disdain flash in Sephiroth's eyes.

"--_temporary replacement_," Sephiroth emphasized, 'correcting' himself. "is uncomfortable with my being there. This is my brother's child and if he wants me there, I shall attend in his absence."

"Whatever, drive your own car," Cloud muttered getting up and starting for the living room. "Sora, grab a jacket, we're leaving."

"Yeah, okay," Sora muttered softly, nodding a little and getting up as well, quickly making his exit, not hiding his disappointment at Riku being unable to attend very well.

'_Maybe I should call and make sure everything is okay,'_ Sora thought briefly as he went up the stairs_. 'It'd be nice to hear his voice…I'm sure the baby would love to hear his voice this morning and I'm sure he'd love to hear from me. And I do want to know what he's doing. But then he could think I'm clingy. I'm not a clingy, just concerned. There's nothing wrong with being concerned so there shouldn't be a problem calling him. But he did send Sephiroth over here to go instead so maybe he was hoping I wouldn't worry or question him. But he should know that I would question him because he knows me like that…'_

"I'm calling him," Sora finally decided, picking up his cell phone pressing the speed button to dial his number--set to Riku's favorite number--before listening to the rings for a moment.

"Pick up," Sora muttered softly to himself, ignoring his brother's call for him to hurry up as he sat on his bed, bouncing a little while his free hand rubbed his belly absently.

"Sora, get off the phone and come on," Cloud scolded, standing in his doorway. "Or bring it with you. You can tell Riku how much you love and miss him on the way, we're going to be late!"

"I am not telling Riku how much I'm in love with him!" Sora stated flabbergast, not realizing that someone had already picked up on the other end.

"Are you sure you don't want to admit it, cause it could really make his day!" a voice joked on the other end, laughing.

"…Axel?" Sora questioned, immediately feeling embarrassed and disappointed all at once. "The one and only! He don't sound so down. You should feel honored to hear such a sexy voice so early in the morning. I'm normally asleep."

"Where's Riku?" Sora asked impatiently.

"Out."

"Out doing what? And why are _**you**_ answering his cell phone?"

"Retract the claws kitten, no need to get jealous," Axel teased. "He just forgot it cause he left in a rush. And I can't tell you what he's doing, not allowed. Though I'll be more than happy to deliver your message to him."

"Sora, I will take the phone out of your hands if you don't come on," Cloud warned, testy.

"Don't tell him what I said earlier, I was talking to Cloud! And stop smoking so early in the morning, that's horrible for your health and the baby's!" Sora scolded as he got up and began to put on his jacket, ignoring Cloud's impatient glares.

"Your not even here, I can smoke when I want, where I want!" Axel snorted. "And how'd you know I was smoking anyway? You spying on me now or what?"

"Because it's a disgusting habit you have and I can smell it from here," Sora teased.

"Oh, so being pregnant gives you super smell now?"

"No, but I do know that when you smoke, it smells awful and when I come over later, the smell will still be in the house and I don't need or want to smell that. That makes Riku's baby angry and you don't want an angry Riku baby. So cut it out," Sora scolded.

"And when you pay bills over here, you can dictate where I smoke," Axel retorted.

"You don't pay bills there either."

"Not the point," Axel stated matter of factly.

"Fine, I'll just tell Riku and he can make you stop smoking," Sora stated triumphantly, knowing full well that Riku had already told the red head more than once to stop smoking in the house for Sora's benefit.

"Always have to go crying to your little silver haired night in shining ar--"

"Axel?" Sora heard Demyx call from somewhere in the background. "What?"

"Stop smoking and air this house out now, before I tell Riku on you."

Sora couldn't help but laugh as he heard Axel grumble and tell him goodbye before the latter hung up the phone.

"Move it," Cloud demanded as he walked over and gently as possibly, picked up his younger brother and carrying him, started for the hallway, making Sora laugh.

"I'm off the phone! I can walk!"

"Yeah, well apparently not," Cloud retorted. "Come on, I left Sephiroth and Leon down stairs glaring hatred at each other, the living room could be a disaster area by now."

"That wasn't very smart of you," Sora reasoned as Cloud gently put him down at the start of the stairs, not wanting to bump him as he carried him down. "Yes, well, neither are most of the decisions you've made lately, first pregnant male I've met in my life. I mean really, only you could manage that."

"That's right, because I'm special," Sora teased, sticking his tongue out at him. "That's what dad always says," Cloud joked back, smiling down at him before the pair made their way down the stairs together.

They could see Leon and Sephiroth waiting at the bottom, both simply glaring at each other in a dark, hateful silence, neither noticing the pair coming toward them.

"Nice to see you getting along," Cloud joked as he got closer to them, finally making the pair look up just as a loud bang sounded as the front door came swinging opening, making Sora jump as he reached the bottom of the staircase.

They all looked up to see a very disheveled Rikku standing there in the doorway, a wild, triumphant look on her features as she waltzed into the room, dragging along a young man Sora had never seen before.

Leon however, stared at him with shock and confusion, staring from him, to Sora's sister, suspiciously before staring intently at the young man again. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, ho ho," Rikku practically sang as Reno brought up the rear along with Yuffie, Reno looking a lot better for wear while Yuffie looked just as pleased and disheveled, crossing her arms over her chest and giving Leon a look that practically oozed "Gotcha."

"Cloudy, cloudy, Cloud, I would like to introduce you to a friend--a very good friend--of Leon's," his sister announced, pushing the young man forward, who glared at Leon for a moment, almost as if he was contemplating something before not seeming to give it a second thought, turned to Cloud, looking simply delighted.

"I'm Seifer," he began politely. "I happen to be Leon's current lover and ex--or should I say current boyfriend given everything we've done together lately. And you must be Cloud--my how I've heard _**so **_much about _**you**_! I just happened upon a chance meeting with your sister who seemed more than delighted to bring me here so here we are. Though enough about me. How are _**you **_doing today?"

Then to Sora's pure amazement, he stuck out his hand for Cloud to shake.

Sora blinked his now round, huge eyes at him, looking immediately at his brother, who

simply glared at Seifer, pausing briefly to glare at the offending hand, then at Leon and finally back to Seifer with an alarmingly calm but unreadable expression on his face.

The entire room remained somewhat silent save soft whispering and Sephiroth's rather cruel, low chuckle. Leon glared daggers of pure hate at Rikku while the latter seemed as though she was ready to do the happy dance as she quietly whispered to her companions that 'she knew it'.

Sora took a good look around the room once more before with a few slow nods he turned around and started back for the stairs, calling back "Well this seems awkward. I'm going to reschedule my appointment and go back to my room now."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**  
_No hints on the next chapter except that what happened with Rikku will be explained in full. I omitted it from this chapter because goodness, it was long enough. XD _

_Anywho, more to come soon. Hope you enjoyed and as always, Happy Reading!_

_~Kamirine_


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